It’s early evening on a Friday, a time that signals the end of the work week in many parts of the world and the middle of the weekend in most others.
Instead of getting ready to go out, having friends over or enjoying a much-needed rest at home, billions of people around the world are now shut in and sitting tight through the coronavirus pandemic.
Associated Press photographers captured images from different parts of Europe and Africa at 6 pm local time on Friday, and found that even the most quintessentially public spaces were as still as a Sunday morning.
Waterloo Station, London’s busiest train station and a popular rendezvous point, was missing its usual frantic flow of crisscrossing commuters and visitors to the British capital.
One of London's most famous rendezvous points is nearly empty under the Waterloo train station clock at 1800 on April 24. — AP
The Via Nazionale, usually one of the busiest streets in Rome’s historic city centre, remains buttoned up and closed for business after almost eight weeks.
Via Nazionale, usually one of the busiest roads of Rome's historical city centre is almost empty at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Under normal circumstances, the hearts of most cities pulse with energy at that hour on that day of the week.
Yet since the coronavirus has swept the planet, days and hours have blended together, compressing into a long wait for life to get back to normal.
In Paris, the stopped clock hands on an art sculpture, titled “L’Heure de Tous” (“Everyone’s Time”), take on a different meaning in the lonely looking Gare Saint-Lazare train station.
The Saint Lazare train station clock, left, and the sculpture named "L'Heure de Tous" ("Everyone's Time") by French artist Arman is photographed in Paris at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Meanwhile, a young man practices his trumpet playing in the Ukrainian town of Stari Petrivtsi as life goes on indoors, out of public view.
A student practices trumpet during an online lesson to get ready for his final exam in a music school, while his grandmother wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus listens to him, in the village of Stari Petrivtsi close to Ukraine's capital Kyiv at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Backdropped by the iconic Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, commuters wait at a metro station on a bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul at 6pm on April 24. — AP
An almost empty Red Square, with St Basil's Cathedral the Spasskaya Tower, right, and a security fence after a light rain at 6pm on April 24 in Moscow, Russia. — AP
Sisi Ndebele, receives a seasonal influenza vaccine from a nurse at a local pharmacy clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa at 6pm on April 24. — AP
A Red Cross tent for registration of volunteers, that help to fight the spread of coronavirus is set in front of the New Town Hall in Prague, Czech Republic at 6pm on April 24. — AP
An empty Palace Square is seen through the arch of the General Staff Building in St Petersburg, Russia, at 6pm on April 24. — AP
A clock atop the belfry of St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church is seen through a clothing shop window pane with a mannequin in the foreground in Cyprus' capital Nicosia, at 6pm on April 24. — AP
A woman walks across Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany at 6pm on April 24. — AP
A completely empty street in Belgrade, Serbia at 6pm on April 24. — AP
People walk in an almost empty train station in Barcelona, Spain at 6pm on April 24. — AP
A view of the clock at an almost empty main square because of the coronavirus lockdown, where machinery is parked for rebuilding works after the recent earthquake, in Zagreb, Croatia at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Kosmas Giannikos, 19, jumps with his skateboard in front of the Greek Orthodox church of Analipsi in northern Athens at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Apartment blocks are reflected in the window of a vintage clock repair shop in Bucharest, Romania at 6pm on April 24. — AP
Header image: People with bicycles meet at the clock park in Duesseldorf, Germany at 1800 on April 24. — AP
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