‘Defer Qing Ming this year’

Paying respects: People visiting the Paya Terubong cemetery for Qing Ming in this file picture taken earlier in Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: The Chinese community has been urged to postpone this year’s Qing Ming festival (All Souls Day), and to pray from home to avoid any unnecessary social or religious gatherings which could help spread the Covid-19.

Dr Hor Chee Peng, the secretary-general of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society, Penang, and also the Clinical Research Associate, Institute for Clinical Research, National Institutes of Health, Malaysia, said Malaysians should try to minimise human contact during the upcoming annual Qing Ming which is expected to see a rise in the number of families returning to pay respects to their departed loved ones at the cemeteries and columbariums.