Alone in isolation: Scenes from the coronavirus pandemic

With one third of humanity estimated to be under lockdown, life as we know it has been transformed beyond recognition

A masked woman sits alone on the back of a bus in Bangkok (Reuters)

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep across the globe, and with the number of confirmed cases approaching the one million mark, much of the world has been brought to a haunting standstill.

From New York to New Delhi and Berlin to Bangkok, billions of people have withdrawn to the safety and comfort of their homes, leaving streets empty, roads cleared of traffic and iconic landmarks – Times Square, the Kremlin, Copacabana Beach – all but deserted.

With one third of humanity estimated to be under lockdown, daily life has been transformed beyond recognition.

For those countries yet to face the worse of the pandemic, the coming months offer great uncertainty and economic instability, with thousands of more lives expected to be lost to coronavirus.

In Asia, a sense of normality is beginning to return, as shops, restaurants and bars are gradually reopened – though authorities have warned there is still a long way to go before this historic episode has passed.

For now, a life of isolation remains the new norm for a generation that has found itself caught in these most unprecedented of times:

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