AP PHOTOS: World frozen in time amid virus lockdown

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Sisi Ndebele, receives a seasonal influenza vaccine from a nurse at a local pharmacy clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

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Via Nazionale, usually one of the busiest roads of Rome’s historical city center is almost empty at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. It’s early evening on a Friday, a time that signals the end of the workweek in many parts of the world and the middle of the weekend in most others. Instead of getting ready to go out, have friends over or for a needed night at home, billions of people around the world are shut-in, staying put and sitting tight through the coronavirus pandemic. Associated Press photographers captured images from different parts of Europe and Africa at 6 p.m. local time on Friday, when even the most quintessentially public spaces sat as still as a Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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People with bicycles meet at the clock park in Duesseldorf, Germany, at 1800 on Friday April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Backdropped by the iconic Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, commuters wait at a metro station on a bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

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The Saint Lazare train station clock, left, and the sculpture named “L’Heure de Tous” (“Everyone’s Time”) by French artist Arman is photographed in Paris at 1800 on Friday April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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An almost empty Red Square, with St. Basil’s Cathedral the Spasskaya Tower, right, and a security fence after a light rain at 18:00 on Friday, April 24, 2020 in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Sisi Ndebele, receives a seasonal influenza vaccine from a nurse at a local pharmacy clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

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A Red Cross tent for registration of volunteers, that help to fight the spread of coronavirus is set in front of the New Town Hall in Prague, Czech Republic at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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One of London’s most famous rendezvous points is nearly empty under the Waterloo train station clock at 1800 in London, Friday, April 24, 2020. Associated Press photographers captured images from different parts of Europe and Africa at 6 p.m. local time on Friday, when even the most quintessentially public spaces sat as still as a Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

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An empty Palace Square is seen through the arch of the General Staff Building in St.Petersburg, Russia, at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. Associated Press photographers captured images from different parts of Europe and Africa at 6 p.m. local time on Friday, when even the most quintessentially public spaces sat as still as a Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

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A clock atop the belfry of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church is seen through a clothing shop window pane with a mannequin in the foreground in Cyprus’ capital Nicosia, at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

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Sex workers booths, sex shows, clubs, movie theaters, and stores are closed in a near-deserted Red Light District, Amsterdam, Netherlands at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020, following Dutch government regulations to prevent the further spread of coronavirus. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

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A woman walks across Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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A completely empty street in Belgrade, Serbia at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

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A student practices trumpet during an online lesson to get ready for his final exam in a music school, while his grandmother wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus listens to him, in the village of Stari Petrivtsi close to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

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People walk in an almost empty train station in Barcelona, Spain at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020 as the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus continues. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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A view of the clock at an almost empty main square because of the coronavirus lockdown, where machinery is parked for rebuilding works after the recent earthquake, in Zagreb, Croatia at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

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Kosmas Giannikos, 19, jumps with his skateboard in front of the Greek Orthodox church of Analipsi in northern Athens at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

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Apartment blocks are reflected in the window of a vintage clock repair shop in Bucharest, Romania at 1800 on Friday, April 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

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LONDON (AP) — It’s early evening on a Friday, a time that signals the end of the workweek in many parts of the world and the middle of the weekend in most others.

Instead of getting ready to go out, having friends over or enjoying a much-needed rest at home, billions of people around the world are now shut in and sitting tight through the coronavirus pandemic.

Associated Press photographers captured images from different parts of Europe and Africa at 6 p.m. local time on Friday, and found that even the most quintessentially public spaces were as still as a Sunday morning.

Waterloo Station, London’s busiest train station and a popular rendezvous point, was missing its usual frantic flow of crisscrossing commuters and visitors to the British capital.

The Via Nazionale, usually one of the busiest streets in Rome’s historic city center, remains buttoned up and closed for business after almost eight weeks.

Under normal circumstances, the hearts of most cities pulse with energy at that hour on that day of the week. Yet since the coronavirus has swept the planet, days and hours have blended together, compressing into a long wait for life to get back to normal.

In Paris, the stopped clock hands on an art sculpture titled “L’Heure de Tous” (“Everyone’s Time”) take on a different meaning in the lonely looking Gare Saint-Lazare train station.

Meanwhile, a young man practices his trumpet playing in the Ukrainian town of Stari Petrivtsi as life goes on indoors, out of public view.

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