Prague In Lockdown During Coronavirus Scare

The gates to Prague Castle on March 13. The castle was closed, and guards ordered to vacate their guardhouses on March 11. 

The closure is one of only a few times in Prague's modern history that guards have left their posts for an extended period. 

Two tourists snap portraits of each other from a viewpoint next to the castle that would usually be thronged with people. 

Tourists run through an empty atrium in Prague's Mala Strana district. 

Women -- one carrying a baby, walking through Prague's Old Town wearing surgical masks. Only a tiny minority of people in the Czech capital are wearing such masks on the street. 

A waitress writes the new opening hours of her cafe in Nusle. From March 13, restaurants and bars were required to close by 8 p.m. On March 14, the Czech government declared such businesses must shut down completely for ten days. 

A restaurant in Prague's Old Town. Only two diners were in the restaurant when this picture was taken at 7:13 p.m on March 13. 

A Ukrainian man in a grim reaper costume running a Russian-language "legends of Prague" tour in the Old Town. The man told RFE/RL that the amount of foot traffic was down by about 75 percent compared to before the virus outbreak. 

A corridor in the heart of what is usually Prague's busiest tourist area, photographed at 8:34 p.m. on March 13 -- a Friday night. 

A woman breathing through her scarf in Prague's Mala Strana area. 

A sign blocking passengers from passing the driver inside a Prague bus. 

An armed guard photographed in the empty front courtyard of Prague castle. 

Tourists shoot photographs while wearing surgical masks near Prague Castle. 

An empty food court in the QUADRIO shopping center on Narodni Trida Street shortly after 8 p.m. on March 13, when such businesses were required to close. 

Prague's famous Charles Bridge at dusk on the evening of March 13. 

An empty restaurant dining area in Prague's Old Town at dusk. 

A man closes his restaurant shortly after 8 p.m. in Prague's Old Town. 

Shelves that stocked hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap stand empty inside a Tesco supermarket on Narodni Trida. The supermarket was otherwise well-stocked, though meat shelves were showing some shortages. 

An outdoor restaurant in one of the busiest lanes in Prague's Old Town, after shutting down at 8 p.m.  

An empty metro station in southern Prague shortly before 10 p.m. on March 13. 

Tourists travelling in the Prague metro with surgical masks on March 14. 

Taped-off escalators that lead to a food court in Pankrac after restaurants were required to shut down for ten days on March 14. As of March 14, there were 150 reported cases of coronavirus in the Czech Republic.