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Barceloneta beach during and after the pandemic

The lockdown that emptied the streets of Barcelona

2020 2025
Fotografía : Santi Palacios

March 27, 2025

This comparison shows Barceloneta beach, in Barcelona, on March 24, 2020 and March 24, 2025. In the first photograph we can see the beach and part of the promenade completely empty because of the state of alarm declared on March 14, 2020 by the Government of Spain to stop the advance of the pandemic. In the second image we see the same location exactly five years later. 

The Barceloneta neighborhood used to be known as the home to fishermen and industrial workers. Today this area has become one of the city’s most popular and visited by tourists. 

In December 2019 the first cases of an unknown pneumonia caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, better known as Covid-19, were detected in China and quickly spread around the world. In January 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern, and in March 2020 the Spanish State decreed the confinement of the population in order to avoid contagion. WHO maintained the state of emergency worldwide until May 2023

Credits

Photo 24 March 2020: Santi Palacios for Sonda Internacional 
Photo 24 March 2025: Júlia Cussó for Sonda Internacional

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