Coronavirus leaves Venice, Vatican deserted; New York subway goes eerily quiet

Italy is under a strict lockdown after a reported surge in the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases. Its tourism industry has taken a massive hit with Venice, the Vatican and some of its other tourist attractions going eerily vacant. City squares, especially in Venice, that teem with tourists wear a look of desolation as the country grapples with the pandemic. Sunday service was live-streamed by the Pope in the Vatican to avoid mass assembly of people.

The reported number of Coronavirus deaths in Italy till March 12 was 1000, and it is expected to go up further. The only silver lining in the situation is the statement made by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio; he stated that the lockdown is proving effective and Italy hopes to be the first country in Europe to recover from the emergency.
It should be noted that no new Coronavirus cases have been reported from the 10 towns in northern Italy that were put under a lockdown two weeks back. Currently, the number of infected cases in Italy stands at a staggering 15000 plus.

On the other side, social media users have uploaded photos of the New York City Subway, depicting empty coaches, some with not even a single commuter. It made for another strange sight as the generally teeming subway went quiet as commuters avoided public transport to reduce the risk of catching Coronavirus infection.
Back home, India has taken some significant steps to deal with the pandemic. The current number of infected cases in the country stands at 75, with reports of its first death coming in from the state of Karnataka.