Empty esplanades, a ghostly train station and deserted holy places. A series of striking satellite images reveals the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on some of the busiest sites in the world. These aerial photos, published by the American space imagery company Maxar, show normally crowded cities, from Mecca to Beijing, which are now sparse.
One of the images shows a handful of worshipers circling the Kaaba, the holiest place in Islam, in Mecca, a site usually crowded with people. Saudi authorities have temporarily suspended Umrah - the little pilgrimage -, an unprecedented measure to fight the new coronavirus, which has already killed more than 3,000 people worldwide.
No pedestrians on the horizon
Photos above Wuhan, China - the epicenter of the global epidemic - show arteries in this metropolis of nearly 9 million people emptied. In this city under quarantine and virtually cut off from the world since January 23, we also see one of the famous hospitals built in a few days to face the epidemic.
VIDEO. Surviving Wuhan: "It feels like a post-apocalyptic video game"
In Beijing, Tiananmen Square is aptly named "the gateway to heavenly peace", with only a few dozen cars in circulation and no pedestrians on the horizon.
