"Temporary closure for Coronavirus." Certainly, it is not the best advertisement to attract tourists but this notice can be seen these days in dozens of shops in Lyon's main tourist area, the Vieux-Lyon, a medieval and renaissance quarter and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the Saône River.

The passage is desolate. The thousands and thousands of tourists who used to turn its streets into a deafening muddle until just a week ago have disappeared. And the neighborhood is gradually withering away without its main source of livelihood: tourism.

It is not the first time that an epidemic has hit Lyon, and, in particular, this district, a major part of the history of the second most important city in France. And Lyon has always managed to get its head around it and is certain the same will happen this time.