Photos: High noon in a coronavirus-stricken world

Lockdowns to halt the spread of the coronavirus have brought an uncanny silence to some of the world's busiest places. Transport hubs that should be teeming with travellers such as New York's Grand Central station or Istanbul's Eminonu ferry docks are all but deserted. | Above: The Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, Iraq.

Our best loved tourist sites or promenades, the Malecon seafront in the Cuban capital Havana, the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem and the Old Town Square in the Czech capital Prague are empty of visitors and the traders that live from them, as borders close and tourists stay home. | Above: The Brandenburg gate, in Berlin, Germany.

Cairo's Tahrir Square and Kiev's Maidan, squares where just a few years ago people swarmed in their masses to bring about revolution, are clear. | Above: The Roman amphitheater in Amman, Jordan.

Reuters photographers have captured the hush that has descended on some of the world's best-known sites on the same day, at noon. | Above: An almost empty road in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.

The Damascus Gate at Jerusalem's Old City.

The Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, also known as The Grand Palace), in Bangkok, Thailand.

A beach in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian.

The Merlion Park in Singapore.

An empty road at Rajpath, in New Delhi, India.

The Houses of Parliament on Westminster Bridge, in London.

Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

An almost empty square in Minsk, Belarus.

The Spasskaya tower is pictured next to Moscow’s Kremlin, and St. Basil’s Cathedral.

The Stock im Eisen square in Vienna, Austria.

The Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), in Kiev, Ukraine.

The National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil.

The main concourse of the Grand Central Terminal, in Manhattan, New York City.

Martyrs' Square in Beirut, Lebanon.

Cape Town's city hall in Cape Town, South Africa.

Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Eminonu district in Istanbul,Turkey.

The United States Capitol, in Washington.

The seafront Malecon in Havana, Cuba.

The State Hermitage museum, in front of Palace square, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The Ring Road Central Street in Accra, Ghana.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai, India.

The Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Japan.

The Jalan M.H. Thamrin, one of the main roads in Jakarta, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Bolivar avenue, in Caracas, Venezuela.