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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A cleaning staff member disinfects air vents of an Emirates Airbus A380 aircraft following the outbreak of the coronavirus in Dubai. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The Spanish Steps in Rome are usually overrun with tourists. Now it's virtually deserted after a decree orders for the whole of Italy to be on lockdown in an attempt to beat the coronavirus. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The interior of a bus at the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge crossing in Jericho is sanitized by a Palestinian worker as a preventive measure against coronavirus. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The Grand Princess cruise ship carrying passengers who had tested positive for the virus passes the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, California. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A young girl draws a view of the coronavirus at her home in San Fiorano, Italy, as the entire country enters a prolonged period of quarantine. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Empty shelves are seen at a supermarket in Canary Wharf in London's East End as unnecessary panic-buying starts to take its grip across the UK. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The lines to reach the Transportation Security Administration immigration process are empty at one of its terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, as people opt not to fly during the outbreak. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Choosing to stay clear of crowds, Pope Francis delivers his weekly Angelus prayer via video transmitted onscreen at St. Peter's Square, in the Vatican.  

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A road is blocked in San Fiorano during quarantine in one of the 11 small towns in northern Italy that has been on lockdown since February.  

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The Grand Princess cruise ship carrying passengers who have tested positive for coronavirus is seen anchored in the Pacific Ocean outside San Francisco, California. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A flight attendant suitably protected from possible transmission of the virus serves passengers during a Bamboo Airways flight from Da Nang to Hanoi, Vietnam. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Sprays of flowers are seen on a fence of the closed Collège Jean de la Fontaine after the death of a teacher from coronavirus in Crépy-en-Valois, France. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Rescue workers are seen on the site where a hotel being used as a coronavirus quarantine center collapsed in the southeastern Chinese port city of Quanzhou. At least 10 people are dead, with dozens more still missing. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

An unprecedented image of the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque which is almost empty of worshippers after Saudi authorities suspended Umrah (an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year).  

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A Kenyan nurse adjusts her protective gear during a demonstration of preparations for any potential coronavirus cases at the Mbagathi Hospital Isolation Centre in Nairobi. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Masked flight attendants fill out health alert cards before thermal scanner checks at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta, as Indonesia confirms its first cases of coronavirus disease. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House staff, displays a photo of the COVID-19 coronavirus during a tour of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

No way in: a security guard wearing a face mask is seen outside a closed temple in Shanghai, China. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A waiter stands by empty tables outside a restaurant at St Mark's Square, Venice. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

The normally busy Piazza Duomo in Milan is seen near-deserted. Tourists are staying away and locals have been told to stay indoors. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Caution would have to be taken when driving over this normally busy Shanghai crossroads. But this masked scooter rider has the road to himself.  

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Medical personnel in protective suits distribute meals at a sports stadium in Wuhan which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to treat patients of the coronavirus. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Crowds, nearly all of them donning protective masks, congregate at Shinagawa station in Tokyo, Japan. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Vietnamese students of Hanoi National University of Education, wearing protective masks, attend the first day of classes after returning to the university, which was closed for over a month due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures in front of a map of Italy during a visit to the Public Health England National Infection Service in Colindale in north London. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: March 2020 -

A South Korean couple seek solace in each other's company as they ride an escalator at a subway station in Seoul. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

The new James Bond movie 'No Time To Die' was due for release in March. Its premiere has now been put back to November because of fears that cinema audiences would stay away because of the threat of coronavirus.

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

The Inter Milan and Ludogorets football teams line up at the San Siro in Milan for a Europa League match in an empty stadium after fans were not allowed to enter the venue. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A South Korean child takes precautions while playing alone with a scooter on the near-empty streets of a Seoul neighborhood. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

President Donald Trump holds a news conference on the coronavirus outbreak at the White House in Washington, D.C. He's clutching a press release titled: "The Countries Best and Worst Prepared For An Epidemic." 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Quarantined hotel guests peer through a window at H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A couple wearing protective face masks check their selfie after a visit to the Victoria Peak lookout in Hong Kong. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A health official is pictured during a drill to prepare for the potential arrival of passengers infected with the coronavirus at Sofia airport, Bulgaria. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Local Filipino residents wearing face masks light candles as they pray at a church in Paranaque, Metro Manila. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Iranian Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi tested positive for the virus soon after he was photographed sweating profusely while holding a press conference announcing measures to deal with the outbreak. Iran's Vice President Masumeh Ebtekar and more than 20 parliament deputies have also been confirmed as having the disease. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

The coronavirus outbreak provides a topical theme at the Rosenmontag (Rose Monday) carnival parade in Düsseldorf, Germany. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organisation (WHO) attends a Beijing news conference where the disease is announced as Covid-19.

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A masked carnival reveler wears an additional protective face mask at the Venice Carnival. The last two days of the annual event were cancelled due to concerns about the spread of the disease.

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Despite the outbreak, people in China are trying to live their lives as normally as possible. These Shanghai Ballet dancers wear masks as they practice in a dance studio. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Mounted police officers ride through snow on their way to visit residents who live in remote areas in Altay, in China's far northern Xinjiang region. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

American citizens wave from a bus as they leave the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship at Daikoku Pier in Yokohama, Japan, to be repatriated to the US. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A Beijing citizen is stopped and his temperature checked in a nearly empty and shuttered commercial street in the city. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A Chinese couple wear plastic coats and protective masks as they shop for groceries at a supermarket in Beijing, China.

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Fogging machines are being used around the world by health officials to disinfect business establishments and public spaces in a bid to cleanse the environment of the virus. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Despite the outbreak, thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, aka the Unification Church, at a ceremony in Gaypyeong County, South Korea. 

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FThe coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Some residents in Beijing extend coronavirus preventative methods to their pets, as this Chinese woman demonstrates. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A sanitation team walk up a flight of stairs as they disinfect a railway station in Kunming in China's Yunnan province. 

© Reuters 

The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Workers in Wuhan set up beds at an exhibition center that was quickly converted into a hospital when the scale of the outbreak became apparent. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

A man crosses an empty highway in Wuhan, China.

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The coronavirus outbreak: February 2020 -

Portuguese nationals who were in the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan are pictured at Figo Maduro military airbase in Lisbon, Portugal, after being repatriated. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Chinese women wear masks as they walk by a window display marking the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival in Beijing, China.

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Italian tourists wearing protective respiratory masks tour outside Rome's Colosseum. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Chinese children wear plastic bottles as makeshift homemade protection and protective masks while waiting to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital International Airport. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

A passenger wearing a face mask arrives at Heathrow Airport in London. Airports are considered high risk zones where thousands of people congregate in a relatively small area. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Protective face masks on sale in Bangkok, Thailand. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Chinese police officers wearing masks stand in front of the Tiananmen in Beijing, China.

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

Construction workers drive excavators at the site of a new 1,000-bed field hospital being built to accommodate the increasing number of coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

A poster advertising Beijing's annual Spring Festival provides a striking backdrop for this image of a masked Chinese police official. 

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The coronavirus outbreak: January 2020 -

A man wears a mask while walking in Wuhan, China, where the new infectious coronavirus known as "2019-nCoV" was discovered.

© Getty Images

The coronavirus outbreak: December 2019 -

The coronaviruses owe their name to the crown-like projections, visible here under a microscope, that encircle the capsid, or protein shell of the virus. The outbreak was first identified in December 2019.   

See also: The deadliest pandemics in history. 

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