Infections across the world have reached a record high in the last seven-day period.
The Omicron coronavirus edition blew up New Year’s celebrations around the world, Paris canceled its fireworks show, London restarted it on television, and New York City kicked off its famous ball drop celebration in Times Square. reduced.
The illuminated ball made of Waterford crystal panels slid down from its pole in Times Square at midnight, but only 15,000 spectators were allowed official viewing instead of the usual 58,000.
A year ago, the newly available vaccine raised hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic could be under control by early 2022. Instead, Omicron’s sudden arrival has led to a surge in coronavirus cases around the world.
Worldwide infections hit record highs in the past seven-day period, with an average of more than a million cases detected between December 24 and December 30, nearly the previous peak posted on Wednesday, according to Reuters data. was 100,000. However, the deaths have not increased, giving hope that the new version will be less lethal.
New York City reported a record 44,000 cases on Wednesday and another 43,000 on Thursday, prompting some critics to question whether celebrations should go ahead.
But officials decided that an outdoor party of those vaccinated, masked and socially distanced was safe, and a better option than the nearly empty celebration that ran into 2021.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” said Sue Park, a student at Columbia University, one of 15,000 people allowed to be seen in person. “Of course I think it’s worth coming and celebrating. It would be more meaningful to be in a crowd.”
Elsewhere around the world, events were scaled back or cancelled, along with traditional fireworks over the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Midnight in Paris passed without a planned fireworks display or DJ set, as city officials canceled planned events on the Champs-lysées following advice from a scientific panel that declared mass celebrations too risky Will happen.
In the Netherlands, where outdoor groups of more than four people are banned, police dispersed several thousand people who had gathered on Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, the ANP news agency reported.
But in London, where fireworks displays and light shows were canceled in October, officials announced Friday that the spectacle on television screens will come to life as Big Ben rings for the first time since 2017 following a restoration in the new year. Had been.
BBC images of the fireworks showed very light vehicular traffic and virtually no onlookers.
Earlier, in the UK, a study of one million cases found that people with Omicron were about a third as likely to be hospitalized as those with the predominant delta variant. The results were “in keeping with the encouraging signs we have already seen”, said Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the UK’s Health Protection Agency.
In the wake of encouraging figures, Cape Town lifted its curfew ahead of time for the new year, when South Africa became the first country to declare that its omicron wave had peaked – and there was no major increase in deaths.
South Africa was the first to sound the alarm about the new rapidly spreading coronavirus variant racing around the world.
“I’m just hoping Cape Town goes back to the old Cape Town we all knew about,” said Michael McKade, manager of the Hard Rock Cafe in Camp Bay Beach’s white sands, who was thrilled to have the place. Was. To host an unexpected bash.
A few hours earlier, the Australian city of Sydney also celebrated the New Year with full fanfare as spectacular fireworks were set off in the harbor above the Opera House.
People in Madrid queued for hours to walk into the main Puerta del Sol square, where festivities proceeded with multiple security checkpoints, mandatory masks and capacity at 60% of normal levels.
Clerk Saul Pedrero, 34, traveled from Barcelona, which has some of Spain’s strictest controls, including a 1 a.m. curfew.
“It feels like another country. Here you can do everything and no one says anything,” he said.
A grand fireworks display sparked off the festivities, which the Spaniards marked with each chime of the clock at midnight by stuffing 12 grapes in their mouths.
In Asia, celebrations were mostly abbreviated or cancelled. In South Korea, the traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony was canceled for a second year, while celebrations were banned in Tokyo’s luxurious Shibuya entertainment district, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged people to wear masks and attend parties. Took to YouTube to urge the numbers to be limited.
China, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, was on high alert, with lockdowns in the city of Xian and cancellations of New Year’s events in other cities.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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