March 29, 2024

Erichoffer

Savvy business masters

COVID-19: Aerial images reveal virus emptying famed sites

BEIJING: Empty public squares, a ghostly train station and deserted holy sites – a series of striking satellite images have revealed the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on some of the world’s busiest spaces.

The aerial photographs, released by Colorado-based space technology firm Maxar, show normally bustling spots from Mecca to Beijing thinned of people.

One image shows a handful of pilgrims circling the granite Kaaba at Mecca’s Grand Mosque – a sacred site usually thronged with worshippers from every corner of the Muslim world.

People in the courtyard of Hazrat Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran on September 25, 2019 (top) and a

People in the courtyard of Hazrat Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran on September 25, 2019 (top) and a nearly empty courtyard on March 1, 2020 AFP/-

Saudi Arabian authorities have suspended the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest place, in a bid to stop the spread of the virus which has killed more than 3,000 people worldwide.

An image above the Hazrat Masumeh Shrine in Qom shows one of Iran’s most hallowed places virtually empty as its famed golden dome shimmers in the sunlight.

Streets and courtyards around the shrine are similarly vacant.

Photos above Wuhan, China – the epicentre of the global outbreak – show dozens of trains parked up at the city’s deserted Dongdamen Station.

Tiananmen Square on February 21, 2019 (top) and an almost empty square on February 11, 2020, during

Tiananmen Square on February 21, 2019 (top) and an almost empty square on February 11, 2020, during the novel coronavirus outbreak AFP/-

Trains at China's Wuhan staion during the novel coronavirus outbreak on February 25, 2020

Trains at China’s Wuhan staion during the novel coronavirus outbreak on February 25, 2020 AFP/-

With the city under lockdown and virtually cut off from the outside world since Jan 23, the usually bustling station has been transformed into a make-shift depot.

Elsewhere, Tiananmen square lives up to its name as the Gate of Heavenly Peace, with only a couple of dozen cars passing by and no pedestrians to be seen.

Source Article