Coronavirus impact: Islam’s sacred sites largely deserted during Ramadan

An aerial view of deserted Grand Mosque in Mecca. Mosques stand empty and fast-breaking feasts are cancelled as Muslims around the world begin marking Ramadan under coronavirus lockdown.

For the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, the month of Ramadan is a social and spiritual high point of the year, a time to gather with friends and family and to focus on fasting, prayer and scripture, but the coronavirus pandemic is transforming this Ramadan in unprecedented ways in societies across the globe, clearing out mosques, cancelling communal prayers and forcing families to replace physical gatherings with virtual meet-ups. | Above: The Blue Mosque square with Hagia Sophia museum in background, in Istanbul, Turkey.

An imam and his assistents perform Tarawih prayer at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sheikh Mohamad Al Bukai together with two Sheikhs from other mosques conduct a social media live stream of the Taraweeh prayer in an almost empty mosque, in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Doors are closed of Masjid Door mosque in Nairobi, Kenya

A staff member of Jama Masjid walks through the mosque courtyard in New Delhi, India

A devotee attends a prayer on the first day of Ramadan, at the Jame Mosque in Kathmandu, Nepal

Two men stand at a deserted Jamia Mosque in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

A volunteer wearing protective clothing and a face mask walks through the car park of Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif in Birmingham, England

A man walks outside the entrance of the Red Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka

A devotee recites the holy Quran at the Star Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh

A view of the deserted mosque in Kolkata, India

The Sultanahmet mosque, known as the Blue mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey

A man reads the holy Quran at the courtyard of the Jami mosque in Herat

People walk past a closed mosque in Khartoum, Sudan

Paramilitary personnel stand guard outside a closed mosque in Guwahati, Assam, India

An aerial view of the Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

An illuminated Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India

A volunteer from the Violet organisation disinfects a mosque in Syria's northwestern city of Idlib

Devotees wearing facemasks pray as they maintain social distance at Shahi Jama Masjid in Ahmedabad, India

The New Mosque, on Eminonu Square Istanbul, Turkey

A security officer wearing a protective face mask walks inside the closed Al Azhar Great Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia

Aerial view of a deserted mosque in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India

A view from outside the closed Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in the Iranian capital Tehran's Shemiran district