Empty Streets under Covid-19 Quarantine

New AirVūz contributor Aran77 brings us this incredible aerial tour of New York City during the Covid-19 lockdown.  In Spring 2020, New York City became the epicenter of Covid-19 in the United States; due to social-distancing measures, its streets became nearly empty. In this video, you will see an eerie sight of some of New York City's most iconic locations that would normally be congested with crowds and bursting with traffic turned into a desolate ghost town.  This video won the Lockdown category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

The Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai is not just a world-class business center: it's also a major tourist destination, with billions of dollars invested in recent years in five-star resort properties and other amenities for leisure travelers around the globe.  Virtually all of which stood empty when the UAE implemented strict social distancing measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Spring of 2020. This video was a nominee in the Lockdown category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

Top contributor pushkinflyteam brings us this incredible albeit shocking drone video from Moscow as Europe's largest city was virtually shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020. This DVOW nominated film opens with a shot looking toward the ultra-modern Moscow City skyscraper district.  Starting at about 1:20 there's a shot flying over the nearly-empty Krymsky Bridge, and at 3:35 you'll see the Church of Christ the Savior.  This video earned a nomination in the Lockdown category at the NYCDFF. 

Drone pilot Rickdebenedetto shows the great city of Buenos Aires, Argentina under a nationwide quarantine to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  While the country didn't reach its first 100 confirmed cases until the third week of March, a nationwide quarantine was declared on March 19.  With most of the confirmed cases concentrated in and around the national capital, one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in South America came to resemble a virtual ghost-town.  This video earned a nomination in the Lockdown category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

Drone Video of the Week finalist ArturCarvalho brings us this brilliant video from Lisbon during one of the strangest times in the long history of the great Portuguese capital city: during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  As Spain became one of countries worst hit by the deadly virus, its neighbor Portugal adopted increasingly stringent social distancing measures to combat its spread.  The result is what you will see in the video - public spaces nearly emptied of people and ordinarily busy streets appearing virtually deserted.  

In this excellent drone video by Lyon Drone Services, you'll see the great city of Lyon, France as it appeared virtually empty during the Covid-19 panedemic in 2020.  Located at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers about 470 km (around 300 mi.) southeast of Paris, Lyon is the center of France's second-largest metropolitan area.  The video features stunning footage of the city's riverfront, the impressive Basilica of Fourvière in the hills above the city, and the empty Place Bellecour, one of France's largest public squares.  

In the late Winter of 2020, the spreading Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic pushed Italy into its worst crisis since World War II.  By the third week of March, Italy had lost nearly 5,000 people to the virus - the most of any country.  With the country more or less completely locked down, award-winning contributor Mauro Pagliai put together this moving video of some of his best footage from across his great nation.  From St. Peters Basilica in Rome to the Apennine Mountains of Abruzzo, his video stands as a tribute to the stricken country.

Check out this eerie drone video of the nearly empty streets of St. Petersburg, Russia during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of Sinaysky.  While Russia didn't see its first confirmed death until the third week of March, by mid-April the country was reporting dozens of new daily deaths; St. Petersburg was the second-largest cluster after Moscow.  By then, a combination of measures at the Federal and St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast put life in Russia's second city to a near-standstill.

Check out this stunning DVOW nominated video from Bologna, Italy, compliments of Jackanda.  Featuring stunning aerial footage of the city and its surrounding hills, the video was taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, when social distancing measures left the streets of the ancient Emilia-Romagna capital city virtually empty.  The ER region, which covers much of north-central Italy, was particularly hard-hit during the pandemic; only the Piedmont and Lombardy regions recorded more infections and deaths.  

AirVuz contributor @surf.the.sky brings us this DVOW nominated video of Tel Aviv, Israel during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.  In February of that year, Israel's first confirmed novel coronavirus infection was reported at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, an eastern suburb of the country's commercial and financial capital.  As the central government and local authorities imposed increasingly stringent social distancing measures beginning in March, the public spaces in and around Tel Aviv appeared in a state of near-abandonment.  

As New York City became the worldwide epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, life in America's largest and arguably the world's most important city came to a virtual standstill.  With many hundreds dying every day, the city imposed a strict quarantine to save lives and keep its healthcare system from being overwhelmed.   In this fantastic drone video, you will see some absolutely amazing (albeit shocking) sights from around Manhattan during the height of the crisis.   

Here's a fascinating drone video of an important city in India during the Covid-19 quarantine in the Spring of 2020.  AirVuz contributor GunjGuglani1 filmed the city of Gurugram (also called Gurgaon), which lies in the north-central state of Haryana, on the border with the National Capital Territory of Delhi.  One of India's leading banking and financial centers, it's known as one of the country's richest cities.  Like most of the giant country, the city was put under a community quarantine to combat the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.   

Here's a haunting aerial view of the city of Chicago in a state of near-shutdown during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in late March, 2020.  The video includes rush hour footage from the Loop district and Michigan Avenue as well as nighttime footage from the Wrigleyville and Boystown neighborhoods.  As the city began to emerge as one of the first non-coastal USA "hot spots", officials from Chicago as well as from the state of Illinois adopted increasingly stringent measures to effect social distancing. 

As the Covid-19 coronavirus unleashed its full fury on Italy beginning in March, 2020, the country began a roughly two week process of adopting successively more stringent social distancing rules.  While Rome was not as hard-hit as some of the country's northern regions, outdoor life in the national capital essentially ground to a halt by the end of the month.   Contributor Luigi@Flyage, working with various news sources, managed to capture these eerie scenes from the Eternal City under lockdown.

Top AirVuz contributor Niels Ahmes brings us this haunting drone video from the great city of Lima, Peru during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Like its neighbor Ecuador, Peru was fairly hard-hit by the deadly virus, with nearly 30,000 confirmed infections and nearly 800 deaths reported by the end of April; the giant capital city was the epicenter of the national outbreak.  In order to combat the spread of the disease, the country went under a national quarantine on March 16.  

Top contributor and pilot haussmannvisuals brings us these eerie aerial views of the German financial capital of Frankfurt in the latter part of March, 2020, as the worldwide Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic caused a virtual shutdown of activity across much of Europe.  As the German case count mushroomed from just over 100 at the beginning of the month to nearly 20,000 in just three weeks, the state and federal governments took increasingly active measures to impose social distancing as a means to control the spread of the disease.  

New AirVuz contributor totoempainado brings us this stunning yet haunting drone video of the great city of Manila under a near-lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2019.  The Philippines capital is the center of a metropolitan area that by some measures is over 20 million in population; it's  likely been centuries since it appeared as empty and quiet as it does in the video.  With its first Covid-19 case announced in late January, by late April the Philippines had seen over 8,000 confirmed cases and over 500 deaths.  

In the second half of March of 2020, New York City emerged as the epicenter of the worldwide Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic.  With case counts exploding by day, the USA's largest city went into a virtual lockdown to halt the spread of the deadly virus.  In this drone video by Artstew Motion, you will see this eerie sight from a bird's eye point of view; areas that would normally be thronging with crowds and bursting with traffic lie silently below, as the city sought to keep its health care system from being overwhelmed.  

Returning to AirVuz after a two year hiatus, former Drone Video Award Finalist RavenAir brings us this spectacular drone video from Melbourne, Australia as the great port city endured a lockdown to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in August and September of 2020.  The video features footage of some of the city's top sights, including the Melbourne Shrine, the Royal Exhibition building, the Melbourne Star Ferris wheel, Docklands Stadium, Melbourne Town Hall, West Gate Bridge, Prince's Pier, and more.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributor and pilot PatricioOsGa brings us this rather haunting video from Mexico City, Mexico before and during the Covid-19 pandemic which began in the winter of 2020.  The video starts with footage from January, 2020, before the largest city in the Western Hemisphere recorded its first confirmed infections.  Then you'll fast-forward to March 30th, when what amounted to a national quarantine was declared; the VFX-enhaced of the empty looking city are truly (as the title suggests) dystopian.  

During March and April of 2020, Los Angeles came to resemble a ghost town as various local and state authorities imposed strict social distancing measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  Top contributor FrameWorkFilms was there to chronicle this eerie scene via drone in this fantastic piece, which features footage ofGriffith Observatory, Dodger Stadium, Downtown LA, Disney Concert Hall, the Getty Museum, the Hollywood Bowl, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Plaza, Universal Studios, US Bank Tower, Wilshire Grand, Venice Beach, and more.

The city of Boston was particularly hard-hit during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.  While much of the world's attention focused on the travails of New York City, the greater Boston area saw nearly 100,000 confirmed cases and around 7,000 fatalities by mid-June, more deaths than in any other major metropolitan area outside of NYC.  In this amazing drone video by Above Summit, you will see some incredible scenes of this ordinarily bustling metropolis while social distancing measures left its streets and public places virtually empty.  

In this rather haunting drone video by new contributor AerialsFinest, you will see the virtually empty streets of Canada's largest city: Toronto, Ontario.  Given Canada's highly federalized structure, most social distancing measures were imposed at the provincial level.  As the most populous province as well as the location of Canada's "patient zero" (confirmed in Toronto on January 25th), Ontario was fairly quick to act, declaring a state of emergency on March 17th and closing most non-essential businesses about a week later.    

Check out this inspiring drone video from Atlanta, Georgia under community quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Shot by contributor Marco Hernandez, the video shows the nearly-empty streets of the great Southeastern USA city as social distancing measures resulted in nearly empty streets and outdoor public spaces in its central business districts.  While the southern Georgia town of Albany was hard-hit, as of early May the Atlanta area was seeing fewer infections and deaths per capita than most major US cities.

Top contributor dizifilms brings us this rather haunting video of the great Canadian city of Montreal in a state of near-lockdown during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020.  During the fourth week of that month, Montreal emerged as the worst Covid-19 "hotspot" in Canada; as of March 26, 2020, Quebec had about 40% if Canada's confirmed cases (roughly double the number in neighboring Ontario, and by far the most of any province), with nearly 50% found in and around its largest city.    

Istanbul (and under its prior name, Constantinople) was the largest city in the world for centuries, and it continues to be one of the most important.  In this rather shocking drone video by Murat Turna, you will see Turkey's great metropolis in a state which would have been unimaginable at any other time in its long history: virtually empty.  Like the rest of Turkey, Istanbul was subject to strict social distancing measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020; the city of 15 million appeared to be a ghost town..  

Top AirVuz contributor AIRFLIX created this rather haunting video of the great Danish city of Copenhagen in a state of near-lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Produced with a mix of drone and ground camera footage, the video will take you around one of Scandinavia's great cities with its streets and squares virtually empty due to social distancing measures.  With its first novel coronavirus infection on February 27, Denmark was one of the first European countries to introduce community quarantine measures.  

Ecuador's largest city and its commercial capital, Guayaquil became one of South America's worst "hotspots" during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  As the national death rate spiked to three times the normal rate (with most Covid-19 related deaths unconfirmed), the health care system in this large port city was overwhelmed.  In this video by Drone del Aire, you will see aerial footage of Guayaquil during the crisis; shots of empty streets and stadiums are interspersed with shots of the same places during normal times.

Amongst the vanishingly few benefits of the Covid-19 epidemic was a notable improvement in air quality in some of the world's most congested cities.  As businesses closed and "shelter-in-place" edicts became the norm, auto traffic around the world plunged and with it so did emissions.   Case and point is the great city of Jakarta, Indonesia; as seen in this video by ariotrihantoro taken on April 1, 2020, smog levels in the Indonesian capital city have plunged to levels not seen in decades.  

Here's a rather haunting drone video of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro under quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, compliments of AIrVuz contributor and pilot gabriel2584.  The center of a metropolitan area of over 12 million people (Brazil's second-largest), Rio's streets and public places became virtually deserted during the first half of the year due to social distancing measures imposed to combat the spread of the deadly virus.  By mid-summer, Brazil had the second-highest number of infections after the USA.

The Mediterranean island nation of Malta saw its first Covid-19 coronavirus case confirmed on March 7, 2020, and within about a week the country had undertaken (more or less) the same measures as the rest of Europe to combat the worldwide epidemic.  In this excellent drone video by top contributor Ericbartolo, you'll see what this looks like from an aerial point of view.  Normally bustling streets and public squares of the country's two main islands are eerily silent and empty, with all nonessential businesses closed.  

Florida was one of the last major states to order shelter-in-place during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.  Despite being the third US state to report a confirmed case, and with a particularly vulnerable elderly population, it wasn't until April 1 that Governor Ron DeSantis issued an order effectively closing most businesses in the Sunshine State.  In this drone video by AirVuz contributor drone_us, you'll get an aerial view of the Miami area as Florida's largest metropolitan area weathered the crisis.  

New contributor nankojogja brings us this rather shocking drone video of the city of Kuala Lumpur at a virtual standstill during the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic in late March, 2020.  Although Malaysia reported its first confirmed case relatively early (in January, 2020), it had only a handful until early March.  By mid-March, cases had been reported in all territories, and the government instituted a Movement Control Order on March 18 in order to legally enforce social distancing measures to slow the spread of the disease.

The normally bustling city of Budapest, Hungary appears to be almost void of human activity in this video by The Hobby Traveler, shot while the Hungarian capital was in the midst of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  The video uses a combination of drone and ground camera footage to show how social distancing measures imposed to slow the spread of the deadly virus created eerie scenes of car-less Danube River bridges, empty public squares, and public transportation facilities with no passengers. 

The capital of Italy's Lombardy Region, Milan found itself near the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic that ravaged the country in the Spring of 2020.  While the worst hit areas were in the surrounding provinces, Italy's second-largest city saw thousands of infections and its (metropolitan) population of over four million was forced to comply with strict social distancing measures to combat the spread of the deadly virus.  Check out these eerie aerial scenes from the great city under quarantine by AirVuz contributor and pilot davidegalloni.  

Top AirVuz contributor Fit Lam Studios created this excellent aerial mini-tour of a very quiet and empty-looking Minneapolis, Minnesota during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ordered the closure of non-essential businesses on March 16, which was followed by a shelter-in-place order that went into effect on March 27.  These social distancing measures seemed to have the intended effects; as of mid-April Minnesota had one of the lowest per-capita infection rates. 

AirVuz contributor admr1985 brings us this remarkable drone video of the UK city of Manchester on a near-lockdown during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Pro 2, you'll see the empty streets of Manchester: the center of the UK's second-largest metropolitan area and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  While the UK was slower to impose social distancing measures, by the last week of March most of its population was under community quarantine.

Top contributor 8 Fifty Productions brings us this rather haunting drone video of a scene which would have been unimaginable even a few weeks earlier: Florida's beaches during Spring Break, and....no people.  As the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic caught up with the USA with a vengeance in March, 2020, the state of Florida saw its public beaches shut down in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.  The result was eerie scenes like this one from the Panhandle's Gulf Coast, which would ordinarily be packed with thousands of beachgoers.

Check out this powerful video of the giant city of Dhaka, Bangladesh under virtual lockdown during the worldwide Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, compliments of new contributor haa_sib.  The world's eighth-most populous country didn't report its first infection until the comparatively late date of March 8, and even by the end of the month it had only several dozen confirmed cases.  Nevertheless, to avoid a potentially disastrous spread, the central government instituted a nationwide lockdown on March 22.

Ireland was fairly quick to take decisive action as the Covid-19 epidemic took hold in the winter of 2020: from its first confirmed case on February 29, it was less than two weeks before the Prime Minister ordered all of the country's schools closed.  On March 27, a much more restrictive order went into place which amounted to "shelter in place" for most of Ireland's population.  In this rather eerie drone video from muno.drone explore, you'll see the great capital city of Dublin on virtual lockdown.

In the second half of March, 2020, New Orleans, Louisiana became one of the USA's Covid-19 pandemic "hotspots".  It was generally believed that the annual Mardi Gras celebration in February, in which over a million streamed (unaware) into the Big Easy, contributed to the rapid spread of the disease here.  In this drone video by Bumble Bee Productions, you'll see aerial glimpses of the city shot over the course of a month, when increasingly stringent social distancing measures caused outdoor life to be drastically curtailed. 

As the Covid-19 coronavirus spread through Pakistan in March of 2020, initially the southern province of Sindh saw the most confirmed cases.  As the month wore on, the giant province of Punjab emerged as the country's epicenter.  The Punjab outbreak was concentrated in its capital city of Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city after Karachi and one of the 20 largest in the world.  AirVuz contributor Videoline productions managed to aerially film the great city as it was virtually shut down by social distancing measures.  

Top AirVuz contributor dizifilms brings us this rather eerie drone video of Quebec City in the midst of a lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in late March, 2020.  The provincial capital, which would normally be awakening from winter at this time of year, was instead essentially closed to contain the disease's spread.  The epidemic hit the province of Quebec particularly hard: with a single confirmed case at the beginning of March, by the fourth week of March its new case count shot past that of its more populous neighbor Ontario.

Check out this fascinating drone video of Pakistan's capital city Islamabad under a near "lockdown" during the Covid-19 epidemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of AirVuz contributor The Drone Life PK.  A separate Federal Territory surrounded by the giant province of Punjab, Islamabad was the site of one of the country's first two confirmed infections announced on February 26th.  The capital began imposing mandatory closures on March 25, although as of the first week of April it had fewer than 100 confirmed cases.  

It's likely many centuries since the fabled French seaside town of Saint-Malo has been as empty as it appears in this drone video by Wanaii Films.  The onetime pirate stronghold on the Breton Peninsula, one of the top attractions in northwestern France, was a virtual ghost-town in the Spring of 2020 due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.  The novel coronavirus infection rate was initially lower than in Italy and Spain, but by the first week of April France was catching up to its southern neighbors.

Check out this rather shocking drone video of the city of Liverpool, England under a virtual lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic in early April, 2020.  Shot by top AirVuz contributor and pilot Stratus Imagery, the video captures the great port city during a national shelter-in-place order.  Known in modern times as the home of the Beatles, in the 19th century Liverpool was the port which powered the Industrial Revolution; at its peak, Liverpool was the wealthiest city in the world.  

Check out this drone video of Portland, Oregon during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of skyroamer.  While the USA's "patient zero" case was confirmed in nearby Seattle, Washington in late January, Oregon didn't see its first confirmed infection until February 28th.  Governor Kate Brown created a coronavirus response team on the same day, and instituted a statewide shelter-in-place order on March 23.  As of mid-April, Oregon had one of the lowest per-capita infection and death rates.    

For reasons which were not initially clear, by early April of 2020 Ecuador had become the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in South America.   The vast majority of the confirmed cases and deaths at that point had occurred in Guayaquil, the country's commercial capital and largest city.  Nevertheless, by mid-March the entire country was under a virtual quarantine.  This led to eerie scenes like what you'll see in this drone video by Ecu Drone: the national capital Quito in a state of near-shutdown.  

The full-scale eruption of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020 and the ensuing "social distancing" measures adopted around the world have created sights which would have been unimaginable even a few weeks earlier.  Case in point is this drone video by AirVuz contributor skys_feed, showing Australia's famous Bondi Beach after it was closed by authorities due to beachgoers not maintaining safe distances.  Located just southeast of central Sydney, it's one of the world's most well-known beaches.

While the novel (and deadly) coronavirus didn't initially hit France as hard as it did Italy and Spain, by the first part of April the country was in the top four in terms of total confirmed Covid-19 deaths.   In this drone video by Let's Fly Productions, you'll see several spots around Northern France under the nationwide quarantining measures: the industrial city of Lille; Tourcoing, on the Belgian border; Roubaix, part of the Lille Metropolitan Area; Valenciennes, southeast of Lille, and Dunkirk.

Top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Zdronu gives us an aerial view of the Slovakian capital city Bratislava shortly after the Central European country went under a lockdown in mid-March, 2020 to halt the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.  The center of a metropolitan area of about 650k, Bratislava is located on the banks of the Danube River.  Slovakia reported its first coronavirus case on March 6, 2020, and the government led by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini ordered all non-essential businesses closed on March 15.  

Former Drone Video of the week Finalist Peu Ribeiro brings us this inspiring drone video from Salvador, Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Intended to bring a message of hope, the video shows one of the city's most well-known landmarks: the 18th century Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim.   Brazil reported its first confirmed novel coronavirus infection on February 25th, and by mid-April the country had reported over 30,000 cases and over 2,000 deaths.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot The Drone Life PK brings us this eerie drone video of one of Pakistan's largest cities under community quarantine during the novel coronavirus pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Rawalpindi, sometimes known as Pindi, is located in the giant state of Punjab, adjacent to the national capital of Islamabad.  Like the rest of the country, Pakistan's fourth-largest city was under what was in effect a shelter-in-place order which went into place on April 1 to contain the spread of the disease.

New AirVuz contributor carlos_bartolotti brings us this excellent drone video of Florianópolis, Brazil during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Florianópolis is the second-largest city in Santa Catarina, one of the three states of Brazil's Southern region.  Although Brazil was in the top dozen countries in terms of confirmed infections and deaths by early April, President Jair Bolsonaro was seen as reluctant to impose social distancing measures, leaving community quarantining decisions largely up to states and municipalities.

As New York City emerged as the epicenter of the USA's Covid-19 outbreak in the Spring of 2019, cities and communities surrounding America's largest city came to resemble ghost towns.  In this piece by AirVuz contributor Manx.Cat, you'll see the city of New Haven, Connecticut under a virtual lockdown.  The home of Yale University (America's third-oldest college and one of its most prestigious), New Haven is about 140 km (around 80 mi.) northeast of New York City, on Long Island Sound.  

In this drone video by AirVuz contributor Aces Up, you'll get an aerial tour of Las Vegas during one of the strangest time in the city's history: during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  With its local economy dominated by tourism and convention business, America's gambling saw profound dislocation when social distancing measures forced the citiy's casinos and other public spaces to shut down.  With no tourists and hundreds of thousands of gaming and hospitality workers laid off, the city took on the look of a ghost town.  

Seen in this drone video by new AirVuz contributor and pilot feki.m90, the Macedonian capital city of Skopje appeared to be a ghost town during the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic in the Spring of 2020.   Macedonia (sometimes called North Macedonia) confirmed its first novel coronavirus infection on February 26, by a traveler who had returned from Italy.  A State of Emergency was declared on March 18; by the middle of April, the small Southeast European country had reported over 1,000 cases and dozens of deaths;   

No less shocking than scenes of empty downtown streets during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020 was the sight of major airports shut down.  In this drone video by Carlos Pinota, you'll get a rare aerial glimpse of Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, Portugal.  Located about 7 km (around 4 mi.) northeast of the center city, the country's largest airport shut down completely from April 9 -13 as part of nationwide social distancing measures to combat the deadly virus. 

AirVuz contributor doc brings us this rather eerie drone video of the Armenian capital city Yerevan under community-wide quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in the early Spring of 2020.  Like most of the former Soviet Union countries, Armenia did not see significant numberso of confirmed infections until comparatively late; the 100th Armenian case wasn't recorded until the third week of March.  Nevertheless, by March 16th, fairly strict social distancing measures were put in place across the country.  

Prishtina is the capital city of Kosovo, a small republic in Southeastern Europe which broke away from Serbia in the 1990's.  On March 24, 2020, about two weeks following Kosovo's first confirmed Covid-19 infection, the central government imposed a nationwide quarantine to create social distancing and thereby slow the spread of the deadly virus.  In this drone video by new AirVuz contributor Astreet, you'll get an aerial view of Prishtina as the city of roughly 300k appeared to be virtually devoid of outdoor activity.  

AirVuz contributor Zisimos Zizos brings us this eerie drone video of one of the main suburbs of Athens, Greece during the Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Glyfada is one of the main towns of the Athens Riviera, the stretch of Saronic Gulf coastline south of the Greek capital city.  Home of some of the most popular restaurants and nightclubs in Greater Athens, it appears to be virtually empty under the social distancing measures imposed by various governmental ayuthorities to combat the spread of the deadly virus.  

AirVuz contributor mustafa12 brings us this stunning (and rather haunting) drone video from Afghanistan as much of this Central Asian country (and much of the world) was under various levels of community quarantine to fight the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.  The video features footage from the national capital of Kabul as well as from around the countryside.  While the country appeared to be faring much better than its very hard-hit neighbor Iran, Afghanistan nevertheless had seen nearly 3,000 confirmed infections by early May, 2020.  

As California endured weeks of lockdown during the Spring 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, there were a few bright spots.  One of them was the virtual disappearance of smog over Los Angeles.  While the city's air quality had been improving for decades, the dramatic drop in road and air traffic during the quarantine resulted in the clearest skies over LA since the dawn of the automobile.  In this drone video by OCDroneProductions, you'll get a bird's eye view looking south over Dodger Stadium towards the skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles.  

In this video by AirVuz contributor elviszefi_photovideo, you'll see the ancient city of Shkodra, Albania, as it was under quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Shkodra is the fourth-largest city in this Southeast European country, and one of its main cultural centers.  It's located at the northern end of the country, on the southern side of Lake Skadar.  Like the rest of the country, Shkodra was subject to a national quarantine order which went into effect on March 10, 2020.  

While Colombia didn't see its first confirmed Covid-19 infection until the second week of March, 2020, the country was fairly quick to adopt strict social distancing  measures to combat the spread of the deadly virus.  President Iván Duque declared a National Emergency on March 17, and a nationwide quarantine on March 21.  In this excellent drone video by jm_photography, you'll see the town of Envigado under a near-lockdown during this challenging time.  Envigado is situated southeast of Medellin, in the Antioquia Department.

Armando_martinez brings us this phenomenal aerial tour of Denver, Colorado as the unofficial capital of the USA's Rocky Mountain Region was under community quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The video shows the city's empty streets, the empty streets of Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team), and wraps with a great shot of the Union Station complex.  Colorado was one of the USA's early Covid-19 "hotspots", although by late April social distancing measures had slowed the spread of the virus.

AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) pilot Kenny Dorion created this spectacular cinematic FPV video of the French Alps town of Annecy at a virtual standstill during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.  With its outdoor spaces virtually empty of people, the video brings a unique perspective to the largest city in the Haute-Savoie Department.  Once called the Pearl of the French Alps, Annecy is located at the northern tip of its namesake lake, about 35 km (around 22 mi.) south of Geneva.

Italy's northern Lombardy Region was the epicenter of the country's Covid-19 outbreak in the Spring of 2020.  Not surprisingly, at fabled Lake Como (which is located due north of the regional capital, Milan), things looked far from normal during this time.  In this eerie drone video by AirVuz contributor Marchino, you will see what the lake looked like during this historic period.  The video was filmed in and around the town of Como, which lies at the south end of the western of the two southern branches of the lake.   

AirVuz contributor OceanAX created this amazing drone video compilation of the great city of Macau as the world's largest gambling center went through the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.  The video features footage shot beginning in December, 2019, just before the city authorities issued their first warning about a possible infectious disease breakout, and running to April, 2020.  As you'll see, the city (a special administrative region of China) appears to be gradually coming back to life with the gradual rollback of social distancing measures.

In this moving video by AirVuz contributor AJ, you'll see the great city of Atlanta, Georgia under quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020. Shot during the nighttime, the video shows how the city has instituted a "light it blue" campaign as a show of public recognition for the front-line healthcare workers.  Part of a nationwide campaign, it was widely adopted in this important regional city: prominent landmarks, such as Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Atlanta SkyView ferris wheel, were fully decked out in blue.  

Check out these rather haunting yet beautiful drone views from Southern France as the country's outdoor life virtually disappeared from view during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of new AirVuz contributor patricehauser.  The video was filmed around the area of Arachon Bay, which is located on the Atlantic Ocean just south of Bordeaux.  One of France's natural treasures, the bay and its surrounding towns appear virtually empty during the crisis as France imposed social distancing measures.

Contributor and drone pilot Carlos_Detrip brings us this excellent drone video of the southern Mexican city Xalapa with its streets nearly empty due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Located due east of Mexico City, it's the capital of the state of Veracruz as well as its second-largest city.   Barely populated before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Xalapa went on to become an important trading center.  The video features excellent footage of the city's most well-known landmark, the 17th century Xalapa Cathedral.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot scottmattes put together this moving drone video from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the City of Brotherly Love was in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Located just 150 km (around 90 mi.) south of New York City, the worldwide epicenter of the crisis, Philadelphia was fairly hard-hit by the virus and went into a state of near-shutdown.  The nighttime video, dedicated to the city's first-line responders, captures the eerie scenes of this strange time in Philadelphia's long history.  

Check out this fantastic aerial view of the Indian city of Indore during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of AIrVuz contributor RG Aerial Imaging.  Indore is the largest city in Madhya Pradesh, one of the states near the center of this vast country.  The 500+ year old city arose by virtue of its geographic position between the Deccan Plateau and the city of Delhi to the north.  Like most of India, Indore was subject to increasingly stringent social distancing measures to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.  

Contributor Bumble Bee Productions brings us this drone video of Baton Rouge, Louisiana while the state capital was under community quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Louisiana was amongst the hardest-hit of the USA's southern states, with over 25,000 confirmed cases and in excess of 1,600 deaths by the fourth week of April.  While the epicenter of the state's outbreak was in New Orleans, its second-largest city also saw a substantial number of cases.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot Bumble Bee Productions spent several weeks in Houston, Texas during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Working on a response related to the novel coronavirus, he had an opportunity to film the great city as it was virtually shut down to fight the spread of the deadly virus.  The result is this excellent if somewhat haunting drone video collage of one of the USA's largest cities; it includes footage of the Hines Waterwall in the Galleria area, the downtown skyscrapers, the Convention Center, and more.  

Shot in black and white, this drone video by AirVuz contributor pedrobraulio will take you over the empty streets of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic while the country was under a community quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Caribbean island nation reported its first case on March 1, and by late April it had seen over 3,000 confirmed infections and nearly 200 deaths from the virus.  Effective as of March 19, under the orders of President Danilo Medina, much of the country became subject to strict social distancing measures.   

AirVuz contributor LevanteDrones brings us this excellent drone video from a very empty-looking town in northern Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  Sarzana is a town and commune in La Spezia, one of the provinces of the Liguria Region along the Ligurian Sea (a part of the Mediterranean).  While Liguria was not as hard-hit by the deadly virus as the regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto, by late April the region had recorded over 7,000 confirmed infections and over 1,000 deaths.   

AirVuz contributor Rui Rios brings us this drone video of an important city in central Portugal virtually shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  The town of Aveiro is the second-largest in the county's Centro region.  It lies along Portugal's Atlantic Ocean coastline, about 80 km (around 50 mi.) south of Porto.  As the western neighbor to Spain, one of the countries hardest-hit by the novel coronavirus, Portugal implemented strict social distancing measures to combat the deadly spread of the virus. 

AirVuz contributor and pilot Avinash Mohanty brings us this fascinating drone video of an important city in Eastern India under a near-"lockdown" during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  It was filmed over the city of Cuttack, the second-largest in the state of Odisha.  It's also considered the commercial capital of the state, which lies just to the south of West Bengal and Jharkhand.  Like most of the rest of India, Cuttack was subject to national and state social distancing measures beginning in mid-March.  

Alanya is an important city in southern Turkey, along the Mediterranean Sea.  Capital of its namesake province, it lies about a two hour drive east of the somewhat larger coastal city of Antalya.  Located just south of the Taurus Mountains, Alanya has evolved into a major tourist center.  Alas, in the Spring of 2020, the historic city was under quarantine for the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the rest of Turkey.  Check out the eerily empty city in this drone video by prodronemovie.   

AirVuz contributor and pilot jerrysqrwiel brings us this excellent drone video of a provincial city in southern Poland during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  The city filmed is called Legnica, which is located on the Kaczawa River in the region of Lower Silesia.  In the nearly 1,000 years of its existence, the city probably never looked as empty as it did during this strange time, when social distancing measures imposed to combat the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus left it appearing virtually abandoned.  

Check out this drone video of Dallas, Texas under near-lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, compliments of contributor octavio velazquez lozano.  The video opens with a shot of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, followed by an aerial view of the iconic Reunion Tower.  At about the :45 mark there's a shot of one of the city's gigantic highway interchanges with perhaps 10-20% of its typical traffic.  Other highlights include AT&T Stadium in Arlington at the 1:10 mark, Dealy Plaza (2:00), the old red Courthouse building (3:10), and more.   

AirVuz contributor snail.fpv used a combination of drones to create this excellent piece of a dead-quiet Levice, Slovakia during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  The mid-sized city is situated in the southwestern part of the country, on the banks of the Hron River.  While Slovakia's rate of novel coronavirus infection was considerably less than its neighbors through March, its government imposed increasingly stringent social distancing measures, including a nationwide "shelter in place" that went into effect on April 8.  

Fomer Drone Video of the Week Finalist Mattcoq brings us this excellent drone video from Shanghai as China's largest city was in the sixth week of a lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022.  The video was shot over Puxi, which is the part of Shanghai lying on the West Bank of the Huangpu River and encompasses the historic heart of the city.  While China had been able to contain the novel coronavirus for much of 2020 and 2021, the Omicron wave washed over many of its largest cities in early 2022, triggering massive lockdowns.    

Check out this nighttime Christmas season drone video of the great city of Dresden, Germany in this excellent piece by AirVuz contributor and pilot Michael Haubold.  Filmed during a time when public spaces were virtually empty due to the global COVID-19 outbreak, the video features extensive footage of the Dresden Frauenkirche church, one of the Saxon capital's most famous landmarks.  Dresden is one of Germany's great cultural centers and was thoroughly reconstructed following its devastating bombing at the end of World War II.    

Award-winning contributor Postandfly put together this incredible collaboration video of drone video shots from around the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Most of the footage is from Latin America; featured locations include Buenos Aires, Argentina; Puebla, Mexico; Azpitia, Peru; Soya Pango, El Salvador; Barichara, Colombia; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; San Luis Petosi, Mexic; Suchitepequez, Guatemala; Canelones, Uruguay; Mexico City, Mexico; Santiago, Chile; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and much more.

Top AirVuz contributor and pilto jesus_tr put together this remarkable aerial collage of Turkey as its was under a virtual national quarantine to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.  The video features footag from the following locations: Afyan, Antalya, Aydin, Baliksir, Bursa, Canakkale, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gazlan, Hatay, Kyseri, Konya, Manisa, Mardin, Samsun, Izmir, Ankara, and Istanbul.  The video concludes with an extended shot over a nearly abandoned beach in Muğla, a province in the southwestern corner of the country.  

As New York City became the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020, America's largest city entered what was perhaps the strangest time in its 400 year history.  Some of the world's busiest streets came to resemble scenes from science fiction movies, and it became possible to walk down the middle of them.  That's what new contributor edward kostakis did, filming himself with a drone as wandered the world's financial capital.  This is the first in a series of videos he made of these eerie and until recently unimaginable scenes.

Check out this haunting drone video of the French city of Lyon during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, compliments of Monsieur Recording Video.  Located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region of eastern France, Lyon is the country's third-largest city and the center of its #2 metropolitan area.  While France initially fared better than Italy and Spain, by mid-April it was amongst the half-dozen hardest-hit countries in terms of infections and deaths; quarantine measures rendered the streets of its largest cities virtually empty.  

As the Covid-19 virus became a world-wide epidemic in March, 2020 and "social isolation" became the word of the day, drone pilots were able to capture eerie scenes of once-bustling cities apparently emptied of people.  In this video, AirVuz' own AndrewAchter brings us a "dronie" shot from the Main Street Bridge in Columbus, Ohio, one of the first states to order a state-wide school closure.  Spanning the Scioto River, the bridge was the first in North America to use an inclined single-rib-tied arch design.

As the worldwide Covid-19 epidemic spread throughout the world in the late winter and spring of 2020, the visual texture of the earth's populated areas fundamentally changed.  This was perhaps most evident from drone videos of the world's most recognizable cities and travel destinations, showing scenes reminiscent of a science fiction movie.  In this reel, we've compiled some of the most compelling scenes captured by the AirVuz drone pilot community around the world during this historic and often terrifying period.  

AirVuz contributor and pilot Atamer.Medya brings us this excellent drone video of the Turkish city of Bursa during the COVID-19 quarantine period in 2020.  Turkey's fourth largest city and the center of Turkey's most industrialized region, Bursa is situated at the foot of Mt. Uludağ in the northwestern part of the country.  Much of the video was shot over the town of Mudanya, which is considered part of the greater Bursa area and is located on the shores of the Gulf of Gemlik, a southeastern extension of the Sea of Marmara.