Photos: The 'new normal': Eerie, empty airport as COVID-19 holds world hostage
Travelers have been encouraged to avoid all nonessential air travel.
London’s Piccadilly Circus, once a thriving tourist attraction and one of the busiest landmarks in the city of Westminster, is now a ghost town. The eerily empty streets in central London show the impact of the novel coronavirus on travelers around the world.
Global transportation is in steep decline as people avoid travel to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Major transportation hubs including airports, trains and railways once packed with large crowds are almost deserted.
The world’s largest airports now mirror the nearly vacant streets of London.
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According to the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. airports show record low numbers for traveler screenings. TSA agents screened 99,344 travelers at U.S. airports on Monday, but on the same day last year, the agency screened 2,594,171 travelers.
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation’s busiest, is experiencing significantly fewer travelers. According to a fact sheet released by Hartsfield-Jackson the airport is a large hub for connecting flights, serving 150 U.S. destinations and over 75 destinations in 50 countries before travel restrictions were put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not banned domestic travel in the United States, travelers have been encouraged to follow statewide stay-at-home orders and to avoid all nonessential air travel during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the CDC’s website.