In other villages CNA visited in Hebei province, the story was similar, with residents speaking about neighbours who died after getting infected with the virus before the Chinese New Year, many of them seniors with pre-existing illness.
They pointed to fresh graves in the distance.
One restaurant owner saw a spike in funeral catering requests in December.
However, with relatives and friends unable to attend the funeral, there were fewer tables and people at the funeral banquet, said its owner Lu Jingwei.
MEDICINE STOCK AT PHARMACIES
Several pharmacies CNA visited in the province said there have been fewer customers looking to buy medication to treat COVID-related symptoms such as fever and sneezing. The stock of such medication varied across the province.
About one or two people were seen entering one village pharmacy over 10 minutes. Fever medicine was not in stock there, said staff, although they were available in other pharmacies CNA visited.
In spite of an improvement, the COVID-19 situation in China clearly still looks to be sensitive. Local county officials checked on the CNA journalist and crew several times, interested to know who they were speaking to.