China's Guangxi cancels festival holiday amid epidemic fight

South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday called off a two-day holiday for a local ethnic festival as the government fights to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

"March 3 Festival," a lunar festival of local ethnic groups, became a national intangible cultural heritage and was listed as a statutory holiday in Guangxi in 2014. The festival runs from March 26 to 27 this year.

Theatrical performances, sports events, temple fairs and other large-scale public activities will be suspended this year and marketing activities for culture and tourism will be held online, said the local government.

The measures are taken to prevent the outbreak from rebounding, it said.

Guangxi launched a first-level emergency response to the coronavirus outbreak on Jan 24 and lowered it to a third-level response on Feb 24. As of Wednesday, Guangxi reported a total of 252 confirmed cases with 213 cured and two deaths.