The lockdown scenes in Wuhan initially seemed completely alien. But the virus raced across the globe, and soon the streets of Europe also became eerily quiet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Exactly one year ago, weeks after the first reports of a new, mysterious deadly virus surfaced in China, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
Since then, the crisis has upended lives and livelihoods the world over.
On March 11, 2020, when WHO sounded that alarm, there were 125,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and under 5,000 reported deaths.
Today, at least 118 million people have been infected, and according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, more than 2.6 million people have died.
From China to Europe, the Americas and Africa, the coronavirus raced across the globe, prompting governments to take unprecedented measures to try to stop its spread.
When the Chinese city of Wuhan first went into lockdown in January, the scenes there felt completely alien to the West.
But very soon, the streets of Rome, Paris, London also became eerily quiet.
Euronews looks back on those dramatic few weeks. Watch the report in the video player, above.