Fewer people in Hangzhou visit cemeteries to pay tribute to the deceased during the Tomb Sweeping holiday, which lasted from April 4 to 6, as more people chose to do it online at home to prevent against the spread of coronavirus. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

Online tomb sweeping proved popular in Hangzhou during the Tomb Sweeping holiday, which lasted from April 4 to 6, as a result of the current coronavirus outbreak.

Officials from the Hangzhou civil affairs administration said that 25 major cemeteries in Hangzhou required people coming to pay tribute to make reservations in advance.

People also had to show their green health QR codes to workers before being allowed to enter the cemetery.

Statistics showed that 64,000 people had visited the seven cemeteries in the main urban area of Hangzhou for tomb sweeping as of 3 pm on April 4, a year-on-year decrease of 90 percent.

Part of the reason for this is that the government has called upon Hangzhou residents to pay tribute to the deceased in a more "ecological" manner.

To this end, the local civil affairs administration has helped set up platforms for residents to "sweep" tombs online. Sweeping tombs is a traditional way of paying respect to the deceased in China.

Already, 350,000 people have made use of the online tomb-sweeping platforms.

A screenshot of an online platform allowing people to pay tribute to the deceased via the internet [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]