Blue and gold fireworks soared into the sky over the Sydney Opera House like they do every year, but the harbor below was a ghost town, an eerie send-off to a year not to be missed.
No light show will illuminate Beijing from the top of the television tower. The lions in London’s Trafalgar Square will be barricaded, as will Moscow’s Red Square. In Rome, crowds will not gather in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope will not lead Mass, and revelers will not make their annual dive into the Tiber.
The end of the year dance will fall on Broadway. But instead of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers huddled shoulder to shoulder in Times Square, the audience will be a small preselected group of nurses, doctors and other key workers, their families kept six feet apart in socially distanced pens.
Have a good trip 2020. Hello 2021.
With more than 1.7 million people dead and 82 million infected worldwide since last New Year’s Eve, but with the hope that new vaccines can help control the pandemic, the end of this year is like no other. another in memory. Angela Merkel, in her 16th New Year’s Eve speech as German Chancellor, said so.
“I think I’m not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy. And never, despite all the concerns and some skepticism, have we waited so eagerly for the new version. “
“I can only imagine how bitter it must feel for those loved ones who are mourning and lost to the crown or who have to fight the repercussions of disease when the virus is disputed and denied by some desperate people,” Merkel said, 66, who said he would get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Germany has banned the sale of fireworks to deter the crowds. The Berlin authorities said the police would “systematically punish offenders.”
‘Hell of a year’
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic originated a year ago, thousands of people were expected to gather in popular downtown spots for the countdown to 2021. Some said they were being cautious, but were not particularly worried.
“Safety is the priority,” said Wang Xuemei, 23, a teacher, from Wuhan.
In Australia, where the Sydney Opera House fireworks are televised around the world as the first major visual display of the new year, movement was restricted, gatherings were banned and internal borders were closed. Most people were banned from going to central Sydney on Thursday night.
“It has been an incredible year,” said Gladys Berejiklian, prime minister of the state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney. “Hopefully 2021 is easier for everyone.”
In the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol in Madrid, which is usually packed with people, there will be no screaming revelers filling their mouths with grapes, one for each stroke of midnight, according to tradition. The midnight curfew in Spain has been extended to 1:30 am at night, but most people are expected to stay home.
As police dragged metal barriers across the plaza, 61-year-old retiree José Ángel Balsa said he would spend the night “with the family, just the four of us at home, making a lot of video calls and hoping that this will end as soon as possible. possible.”
In Britain, where a highly contagious variant of the virus is rampant and most people are subjected to strict restrictions, official billboards instruct the public to “watch the New Year safely at home.” Barriers were erected in public places like London’s Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.
The Russian authorities arrested the people who were gathering in Red Square. Bars and restaurants were supposed to close before midnight, but the fireworks would continue.
In Italy, bars, restaurants and most shops were closed, and a curfew was imposed for New Years Eve at 10 p.m. Pope Francis canceled plans to run New Years and New Years services due to an outbreak of his sciatica condition, the Vatican said.
In France, where a night curfew will also be in effect, no more than six adults are allowed to gather around the table. But there will be celebrations, small, perhaps, but in style.
At “A la Ville de Rodez,” a luxury Parisian delicatessen, manager Brice Tapon was preparing packages of foie gras, truffles and pate for groups of two or three.
“I’ll … fill myself up on foie gras, champagne and all this food,” said Annie Chaplin, a customer. And I’ll stay home.
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