Infections worldwide hit a record high over the past seven-day period.
The Omicron coronavirus variant has dampened New Year’s festivities around the world, with Paris canceling fireworks shows, London turning to television and New York City scaling back the famous ball-drop celebrations in Guangzhou. Times School.
The illuminating ball made of Waterford crystal panels slid down its column at midnight in Times Square, but only 15,000 spectators were allowed into the official viewing area instead of the usual 58,000.
A year ago, a new vaccine was made available that gave hope that the COVID-19 pandemic could be brought under control as early as 2022. Instead, the sudden arrival of Omicron increased the number of infections. coronavirus globally.
The number of infections worldwide hit a record high over the past seven-day period, with an average of just over a million cases detected each day between December 24 and 30, an increase of about 100,000 from the peak. was previously published on Wednesday, according to Reuters data. However, the deaths have not increased in kind, giving hope the new variant is 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 the celebrations should continue.
But officials have decided an outdoor party of the vaccinated, masked and socially distanced is safe and a better option than the mostly-vacant celebration. out in 2021.
“I would be lying if I said I don’t care,” said Sue Park, a Columbia University student who was one of 15,000 people allowed to watch the live stream. “Definitely I think it’s worth coming and celebrating. It makes more sense to be in the crowd.”
Elsewhere around the globe, events have been scaled back or canceled altogether, such as the traditional fireworks display over the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Midnight passed in Paris without a fireworks display or DJ expected, as city officials canceled planned events on the Champs-Élysées on the advice of a scientific panel declaring announced that mass gatherings would be too risky.
In the Netherlands, where outside groups of more than four people are banned, police dispersed thousands of people who had gathered in defiance at Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, the ANP news agency reported.
But in London, where a fireworks and light show was canceled in October, officials announced on Friday that the spectacle would come to life on TV screens, as Big Ben rang out in the year. new for the first time since 2017 after being restored.
BBC images of the fireworks show very light vehicular traffic and almost no live audience.
Before that, in the UK, a study of over a million cases found that people with Omicron were about one-third more likely to need hospitalization than those with the previously dominant Delta variant. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK’s Health Security Agency, said the results were “in line with the encouraging signs we’ve seen”.
In the face of encouraging data, Cape Town abruptly lifted its curfew just in time for the New Year, after South Africa became the first country to declare its Omicron wave had exploded – and without an increase large increase in the number of deaths.
South Africa has raised the alarm for the first time about a new fast-spreading coronavirus variant racing around the world.
Michael Mchede, manager of a Hard Rock cafe on the white sands of Camps Bay Beach, said: “I just hope that Cape Town returns to the old Cape Town we all know. to hold an unexpected bash.
Hours earlier, the Australian city of Sydney also welcomed the New Year with something like a total riot, as spectacular fireworks sparkled in the harbor above the Opera House.
People in Madrid lined up for hours to get into the main Puerta del Sol square, where the celebration was celebrated with multiple security checkpoints, mandatory masks and 60% occupancy. .
Saul Pedrero, a 34-year-old secretary, made the trip from Barcelona, which has some of Spain’s strictest controls, including a 1am curfew.
“It seems like a different country. Here you can do everything and no one says anything,” he said.
A lavish fireworks display lit up the festival, which the Spaniards marked by stuffing 12 grapes in their mouths to accompany each midnight clock chime.
In Asia, celebrations are mostly shortened or canceled. In South Korea, the traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony was canceled for a second year, while the festival was banned in Tokyo’s glittering Shibuya entertainment district and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took to YouTube to urge people to wear it. masks and limit the number of parties.
China, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, has been on high alert, with the city of Xi’an closed and New Year events in other cities cancelled.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
