Vietnam will hold a two-day state funeral this weekend for Do Muoi, former general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who died on Monday at the age of 101.

During the national mourning on Saturday and Sunday, all flags at governmental offices and public places will be flown at half-staff and tied to the pole by a black piece of cloth.

All recreational and entertainment activities will also be suspended during the event.

He will be laid in state at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi.

The respect-paying ceremony will start at 7:00 am on Saturday and run until 7:30 am on Sunday, followed by a memorial service at 9:00 am the same day.

A burial service for Do Muoi will take place from 1:00 pm on Sunday in his hometown in Dong My Commune in Hanoi’s rural Thanh Tri District.

Simultaneous respect-paying and memorial ceremonies for the late Party chief will also be held at the Reunification Hall in Ho Chi Minh City.

The ceremonies in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be broadcast live on state television VTV and state radio VOV, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Do Muoi, born in 1917, passed away at a military hospital in Hanoi at 11:12 pm on Monday due to old age and serious illness, the agency quoted Vietnam's Central Commission of Healthcare for Senior Officials as saying.

He was chairman of Vietnam’s Council of Ministers - today’s equivalent of prime minister - from June 1988 to June 1991 before taking leadership as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Committee from June 1991 to December 1997.

He was known for leading Vietnam to implement the country's renewal policy that helped revive the national economy from a period of hyperinflation.