Closures, travel restrictions, and self-isolation measures due to the new coronavirus have cleared public squares, roads, and travel destinations across the globe. Places built to accommodate thousands have become virtual ghost towns, as tourists and locals remain at home. Photographers in France, India, the U.S., Italy, China, Australia, and more have been capturing the eerie stillness of these public spaces, recently emptied of the crowds they were built for.
Photos: The Quiet Emptiness of a World Under Coronavirus
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The reflecting pool and National Mall, normally filled with tourists, shown nearly empty due to the impacts of the coronavirus, on March 17, 2020, in Washington, D.C. #
Win McNamee / Getty -
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California Street, usually filled with cable cars, is seen mostly empty in San Francisco, California, on March 17, 2020. On Monday, millions of residents in the Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, were ordered to stay home to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus. #
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty -
Cinderella Castle is seen at the end of a deserted Main Street at Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park, after it closed in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus, in an aerial view over Orlando, Florida, on March 16, 2020. #
Gregg Newton / Reuters -
An aerial view from a drone shows a few people walking along the ocean in South Beach on March 16, 2020, in Miami Beach, Florida. City officials closed an area of the beach that is popular with college spring breakers and asked them to refrain from large gatherings, where COVID-19 could spread. #
Joe Raedle / Getty -
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The mostly-deserted steps of the Sydney Opera House, where scheduled performances have been canceled due to the coronavirus, seen on a quiet morning in Sydney, Australia, on March 18, 2020 #
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A view of a deserted Safdarjung Tomb, closed to tourists on March 17, 2020, in New Delhi, India. The Indian Council of Medical Research on Tuesday said that India is in stage two of the coronavirus outbreak. The third stage is community transmission, which India hopes to avoid. On Monday, the provincial government in the capital, New Delhi, barred the assembly of more than 50 people and ordered the closure of all the public monuments and museums, including the iconic Taj Mahal and Red Fort until the end of this month. #
Yawar Nazir / Getty -
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A pedestrian crosses a nearly-empty Kiener Plaza Park in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 17, 2020. Activity in downtown St. Louis was light as businesses curtailed operations and encouraged employees to work from home if possible in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. #
Jeff Roberson / AP -
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A view of an empty ski lift at Squaw Valley Resort in Olympic Valley, California, on March 14, 2020. Alterra Mountain Company, which owns Squaw Valley, suspended operations at all 15 of its North American resorts on March 15, until further notice. #
Ezra Shaw / Getty North America -
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A nearly-empty street is pictured after Honduras’s government imposed a nationwide curfew for a seven-day period as part of the measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on March 17, 2020. #
Jorge Cabrera / Reuters -
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A man takes a selfie in an empty Catalunya Square in Barcelona, Spain, on March 15, 2020. As part of the measures to prevent spread of the coronavirus, the Spanish government declared a 15-day state of emergency. #
David Ramos / Getty -
A science teacher live-streams to her students from a flowering field in Hangzhou, in China's Zhejiang province, on March 16, 2020. Campuses in China are still not allowed to take in students, nearly two months after the COVID-19 outbreak. #
Feature China / Barcroft Media / Getty -
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People descend the Bethesda metro-station escalator at rush hour on March 16, 2020, after Maryland’s Governor, Larry Hogan, ordered the shutdown of all bars and eateries in the state. #
Tom Brenner / Reuters -
A woman stands at her balcony as she joins others in applauding doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus disease, part of a nationwide initiative to show unity and support in Sofia, Bulgaria, on March 16, 2020. #
Dimitar Kyosemarliev / Reuters -
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A view of the international bridge between Peru and Bolivia, after Peru’s government announced the border’s closure in a bid to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, in Desaguadero, Bolivia, on March 17, 2020. #
David Mercado / Reuters -
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