Nagasaki on Sunday marked the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb that devastated the city and instantly killed tens of thousands of people at the end of World War II. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the memorial ceremony was scaled back with an attendance of about 500, which is one tenth of usual years, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue asked attendees to clap their hands to show appreciation to the "hibakusha" - the survivors of the atomic bombing- in the same manner that people applauded medical workers battling COVID-19.

Taue also urged the Japanese government to ratify a 2017 nuclear ban treaty as soon as possible.

At 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945, a U.S. warplane dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. It exploded 500 meters above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000, and approximately 70,000 by the end of the year.

The bombing of Nagasaki came three days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

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