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In pictures: Eerie quiet as lockdown measures come into effect

The UK saw normally bustling areas turned into ghost towns as people were told to stay indoors to combat the spread of coronavirus.

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A deserted Piccadilly Circus in London

What should have been a normal working Tuesday in the UK has seen many city centres turned into virtual ghost towns under lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the nation that people are only allowed to leave their homes under a list of very limited purposes, under measures set to last until at least Easter Monday.

Here is a flavour of the eerie quiet that has descended on some of our biggest cities as a result.

A woman jogs near City Hall in central London
A woman jogs near City Hall in central London (Yui Mok/PA)
Bank junction in the City of London
Bank junction in the City of London (Yui Mok/PA)
An empty children’s play area in Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent
An empty children’s play area in Mote Park in Maidstone, Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA)
A matrix road sign on the A367 into Bath advises motorists to stay at home
A matrix road sign on the A367 into Bath advises motorists to stay at home (Ben Birchall/PA)
Canary Wharf station
A quiet Canary Wharf Underground Station (Yui Mok/PA)
Escalators on the Tube
Escalators on the Tube would normally be thronged with people at this time (Yui Mok/PA)
A Tube carriage
Although some carriages reportedly had many passengers at rush hour, this westbound Jubilee line carriage was spookily quiet (Yui Mok/PA)
An empty car park
Many businesses will be counting the cost of closures – here is an empty car park outside Boundary Mill stores in Grantham (Mike Egerton/PA)
Oxford Street
There were few pedestrians in London’s Oxford Street – one of the world’s busiest thoroughfares (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Liverpool streets
The streets of Liverpool were deserted (Peter Byrne/PA)
Oxford Street
PM Boris Johnson ordered people to only leave their homes to shop for basic necessities ‘as infrequently as possible’ (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Cannon Hill Park
A cyclist at Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham, performing their allotted single form of exercise per day (Jacob King/PA)
Liverpool's China Town
Liverpool’s China Town is deserted, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the lockdown measures would last until at least Easter Monday (Peter Byrne/PA)
A Birmingham Park
A woman takes advantage of the quiet to exercise at Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)
Birmingham
A failure to follow the rules could see police dispersing gatherings and imposing fines, which Government officials said would start at £30 (Jacob King/PA)
Leicester city centre
The clock tower in Leicester as Britons face weeks – and perhaps even longer – of emergency measures (Joe Giddens/PA)
Costco in Thurrock
Customers practise social distancing as they queue to shop at Costco in Thurrock, Essex (Gareth Fuller/PA)
A deserted Piccadilly Circus on Tuesday evenin
A deserted Piccadilly Circus on Tuesday evening (Victoria Jones/PA)
The Palace Theatre, which usually shows the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child
The Palace Theatre, which usually shows Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (Victoria Jones/PA)
The Sondheim Theatre in the West End
The Sondheim Theatre in the West End (Victoria Jones/PA)
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