HANOI: Vietnam will hold a state funeral and national mourning for President Tran Dai Quang who died last week at age 61.
The Communist Party and government announcement said flags will fly at half-staff and entertainment activities will be cancelled during the two-day funeral that starts Wednesday.
Quang will be buried in his home village in northern Ninh Binh province on Thursday.
He died at a military hospital in Hanoi on Friday. State media quoted a government doctor as saying he died due to a rare virus but the reports did not identify it.
A career security officer, Quang rose through the ranks to be Minister of Public Security in 2011 and was elected by the National Assembly as the nation's president in April 2016.