In an all-out effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, health and government officials worldwide have mandated travel restrictions, closed schools and businesses, and set limits on public gatherings. People have also been urged to practice social distancing in public spaces, and to isolate themselves at home as much as possible. This rapid and widespread shift in rules and behavior has left much of the world looking very different than it did a few months ago, with emptied streets, schools, workplaces, and restaurants, and almost everyone staying home. Gathered below, some recent scenes from this pandemic, and of people coping with the many problems it is causing.
Photos: Life in the Coronavirus Era
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Expatriates returning from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon wait to be retested in a Kuwaiti health ministry containment and screening zone for COVID-19 in Kuwait City on March 16, 2020. #
Yasser Al-Zayyat / AFP / Getty 
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Catholic priest Jesus Higueras from the Santa Maria de Cana parish is seen on a smartphone during a live-stream video mass in Pozuelo de Alarcon, on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain, on March 15, 2020. #
Bernat Armangue / AP 
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Dener Barbosa of Brazil rides Bullseye in an empty stadium on the second day of the PBR Unleash The Beast Gwinnett Invitational bull-riding competition, at Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, Georgia, on March 15, 2020. The competition is closed to the general public due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. #
Kevin C. Cox / Getty 
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Caidence Miller, a fourth grader at Cottage Lake Elementary, tries to figure out assignment instructions without working speakers on his laptop as he and his grandmother, Chrissy Brackett, navigate the online-learning system the Northshore School District will use for two weeks because of coronavirus concerns, at Brackett's home in Woodinville, Washington, on March 11, 2020. #
Lindsey Wasson / Reuters 
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A delivery man wearing a protective mask pushes a cart across a deserted Via del Corso, a main shopping street, in central Rome on March 12, 2020, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus. #
Alberto Pizzoli / AFP / Getty 
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The Nabi Younes market is seen empty during a curfew imposed by Iraqi authorities, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, in east Mosul, Iraq, on March 15, 2020. #
Abdullah Rashid / Reuters 
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A family doctor speaks to his patients on the phone in the deserted town of Livorno, Italy, on March 13, 2020. The Italian government has imposed unprecedented restrictions on its 60 million people as it expanded its emergency COVID-19 lockdown nationwide. #
Laura Lezza / Getty 
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A view of the empty Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele opera house in Palermo, Italy, on March 12, 2020. The Italian government strengthened its quarantine rules, shutting all commercial activities except for pharmacies, food shops, gas stations, tobacco stores, and news kiosks in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. #
Tullio Puglia / Getty 
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A professor holds an online lecture in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Catania, without students, due to the coronavirus crisis, on March 12, 2020, in Catania, Italy. #
Fabrizio Villa / Getty 
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People wait to buy marijuana at Coffeeshop Bullwackie in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on March 15, 2020, after a televised address by health minister Bruno Bruins, who ordered all Dutch schools, cafés, restaurants, coffee shops, and sport clubs to be closed on Sunday, to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus in the Netherlands. #
Peter Dejong / AP 
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Linda Rosier, a mother of two, stocks up on essential long-term food supplies as concerns about the spreading COVID-19 are keeping kids out of school and in the house, on March 13, 2020, in Brooklyn, New York. #
Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty 
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A view of an empty Rue de Rivoli in Paris, France, on March 15, 2020. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced that France will shut shops, restaurants, and entertainment facilities from midnight to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. #
Stephane Cardinale / Corbis via Getty 
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A security guard watches from empty stands while outfielder Tien Hsin Kuo of the Wei Chuan Dragons bats during the CPBL preseason game between CTBC Brothers and Wei Chuan Dragons at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan, on March 15, 2020. #
Gene Wang / Getty 
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Dutch band DeWolff perform in an empty venue, filmed and streamed on Facebook, because of a ban on gatherings to limit the spread of COVID-19, on March 14, 2020, in Maastricht, Netherlands. #
Marcel Van Hoorn / ANP / AFP / Getty 
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Flowers are stored prior to their destruction at a flower auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, on March 16, 2020. The Dutch horticultural sector is sounding the alarm about the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Because of the loss of demand, the auctions are struggling with low prices and the need to destroy the products. #
Lex Van Lieshout / ANP / AFP / Getty 
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An empty arena, photographed during game two of the NBL Grand Final Series between the Perth Wildcats and the Sydney Kings at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, on March 13, 2020. #
Will Russell / Getty 
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A woman makes a video call with her smartphone inside her home after the Italian government clamped down on public events, closed bars, restaurants, and schools, imposed travel restrictions, and advised citizens to stay at home in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus on March 15, 2020, in Turin, Italy. #
Stefano Guidi / Getty 
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A man wearing a mask looks up at a couple looking out of a house window on the 15th day of quarantine in San Fiorano, one of the small towns in northern Italy that has been on lockdown since February, in this picture taken by schoolteacher Marzio Toniolo on March 6, 2020. #
Marzio Toniolo via Reuters 
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Normally busy downtown streets are virtually empty at rush hour because of coronavirus fears in Seattle, Washington, on March 12, 2020. Major employers such as Amazon and many others have asked employees to work from home to help slow the spread of the virus. #
John Moore / Getty 
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A single damaged can remains on empty shelves in a Vons supermarket in Burbank, California, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States on March 14, 2020. #
Amy Sussman / Getty
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