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  • The ongoing pandemic has lead to a severe disruption of public life, with people around

  • the globe practicing social distancing measures in order to fight the spread of the virus.

  • In this video we want to focus on the consequences of the pandemic, that can be observed from

  • space using satellite data.

  • Towards the end of 2019, an unusual number of pneumonia cases were noticed in Wuhan,

  • the capital of the Hubei Province in China.

  • After documents about this were leaked online, local authorities confirmed these reports

  • on December 31, 2019.

  • One day later, this wet Market in Wuhan was closed.

  • Investigations revealed that two thirds of the early patients had links to this market,

  • which is why many assume this is where the outbreak originated.

  • On January 20, the number of reported cases rose to 136 and the first cases occurred in

  • the cities of Beijing and Shenzhen.

  • Three days later, on January 23, the central government decided a lockdown in Wuhan and

  • other cities in the Hubei Province.

  • This image shows traffic on the Yingwuzhou Yangtze River Bridge on January 12th, before

  • the lockdown.

  • 2 weeks later, the streets are empty and life in the China was transformed.

  • Within weeks, Emergency hospitals were set up in Wuhan, like the this one.

  • Construction was started on the same evening as the lockdown began on January 23.

  • And the first patients were admitted 11 days later, on February 3.

  • Another field hospital was also set up within a short period of time.

  • For this, the free space of a parking lot was used.

  • News Reporters: "Malaysia has confirmed its first locally transmitted case of the novel

  • coronavirus"

  • "The Philippines has reported the first death"

  • "Tonight the virus is spread from China to 47 countries"

  • "Irans government has announced a spike in the number of coronavirus cases"

  • "Inside the Islamic Republic death toll rates are rather misleading.

  • It is clear however that the holy city of Qom is the epicenter of that outbreak"

  • Iran is the worst affected country In the middle east, with the Qom Province reporting

  • the highest numbers of confirmed cases.

  • Every year around twenty million pilgrims visit the city, since it is a large center

  • for Shi'a scholarship.

  • Due to the outbreak, large gatherings were banned and shrine sites were closed.

  • skepticism rose regarding the official number of cases as Satellite imagery revealed that

  • a large number new graves were created at an unusual speed.

  • On February 21, a large outbreak in Italy was reported.

  • In early March the country entered a complete lockdown.

  • The affects of those restrictions can be seen in Venice.

  • The waters that are usually crowded with boats came to a standstill as Europe became the

  • new center of the global pandemic.

  • New Reporters:"India has become the latest and largest country to introduce a nationwide

  • lockdown"

  • "Over in Saudi Arabia officials abruptly stopped issuing tourist visas to foreigners planning

  • Umrah pilgrimages."

  • "Take a look at the Saint Peters Square at the Vatican, empty"

  • "A drive trough testing station for coronavirus"

  • "This makes testing faster and easier than before"

  • "The US is now leading the world in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases.

  • "New York has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the US"

  • "19 million New Yorkers are being asked to stay at home as much as possible"

  • One industry heavily affected by the outbreak is aviation.

  • In addition to legal restrictions such as travel bans, demand is at a level that was

  • totally unimaginable just a few months ago.

  • Airports worldwide have therefore converted their runways or taxiways into parking spaces

  • for grounded planes.

  • Such as can be seen here at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany.

  • Or these images that show Copenhagen Airport in Denmark.

  • This map shows a snapshot of the airspace over the Atlantic on March 2, 2020.

  • Both culturally and economically Europe and North America are closely linked and therefore

  • the airspace is tightly filled.

  • For comparison, let's look at a snapshot from March 30th, taken at the same day of the week

  • at and at the exact same time as the one before.

  • The consequences of declining industrial activity and traffic can also be seen from satellite

  • data that records the changes in nitrogen dioxide emissions over a period of time.

  • In Europe, a decrease in emissions in Northern Italy is clearly visible.

  • When we look at China the drop in emissions is also apparent, with a particularly strong

  • change at the end of January, when the lockdown measures came into effect in many regions.

  • The fact that we can identify the effects of the virus on the basis of satellite data

  • once more shows that this is a global challenge of enormous scale.

  • But it should also be noted that satellite imagery is just one piece of capturing what

  • is happening.

  • Just as every event is captured in a number of different ways.

  • As impressive as the big picture is, the small one can be too.

  • For example, the many smartphone clips that show tragedy, frustration but also hope and

  • social solidarity in this difficult time.

  • - collective singing - - singing happy birthday -

The ongoing pandemic has lead to a severe disruption of public life, with people around

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