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Confetti fluttered over frontline workers scattered across Times Square in New York after fireworks exploded over eerily silent landmarks from Sydney Harbor Bridge to Copacabana Beach as the world ushered in the Year. New with silent celebrations and saying goodbye to a 2020 plagued by pandemics.
After a grueling year in which at least 1.8 million people died from Covid-19, new waves of infection have prompted new closures and forced would-be revelers to extend their 2020 tradition of watching events from the couch.
In New York’s famous Times Square, the usual overflowing crowd was replaced by a group of specially invited front-line workers, separated by barricades to reinforce social distancing. The audience was blocked from the plaza, where a crystal ball fell at midnight after performances by stars like Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Gaynor.
US President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office later this month, gave a positive note as the US, the country most affected by Covid-19, is approaching 20 million infections. recorded and 345,000 deaths.
“I’m more optimistic about America’s chances than ever,” he said in a video interview on ABC’s countdown show.
“The United States can do anything and I am absolutely confident, confident that we will come back and come back even stronger than before.”
In Brazil, where 195,000 people have died of Covid-19, the second-highest death toll, Rio de Janeiro prevented the usual swarms of revelers from gathering on Copacabana beach.
That didn’t stop people from lighting up the city’s iconic skyline with amateur fireworks, the booms of which competed with blows from critics protesting far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, the leader dubbed the ‘Tropical Trump.’
The expected first seconds of 2021 fell on the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Samoa from 10am Irish time yesterday. The uninhabited Howland and Baker Islands will be the last to turn to the New Year this morning.
In New Zealand, which has earned praise for its handling of the coronavirus, large crowds gathered in Auckland for a fireworks display.
In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, fireworks lit up the glittering harbor with a dazzling display, but few onlookers saw in person.
Despite the restrictions, some Hong Kong residents ventured out to usher in the year and gathered at Victoria Harbor to take selfies.
In Tokyo, where residents face the prospect of a state of emergency after infections reached new levels, people lined up with masks to offer New Year’s prayers.
Wuhan in China, where the virus first appeared late last year, saw thousands gather to celebrate.
In other places the mood was more depressing.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin acknowledged in a New Year’s speech that a second wave of Covid-19 was hitting the nation.
“The fight against that doesn’t stop for a minute,” he said.
Italy, where shocking images of makeshift morgues and exhausted doctors woke the world to the severity of the crisis, is locked across the country until January 7 with a 10 p.m. curfew.
From France to Latvia to Brazil, police and, in some cases, military personnel were deployed to enforce curfews or ban large gatherings.
Paris and Athens hosted socially distancing meetings, with a virtual concert and light show over Notre Dame in the French capital and fireworks over the Acropolis in Greece.
In Ireland, the celebrations were moderated with images showing an empty Temple Bar in Dublin. The annual ringing of the New Year at Christchurch Cathedral in the capital was also canceled.
In London, a few dozen revelers came to Parliament Square to watch Big Ben ring at 11 p.m., marking the moment when Brexit finally came true, and Britain broke its turbulent half-century association with Europe.
However, the police ordered them to return home well before midnight.
A fireworks and laser show was held in Dubai at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, where there have been a large number of new cases. Spectators were required to wear masks and register with identification QR codes.
On the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, where temperatures plummet to -35 ° C, about a dozen Russians emerged invigorated after a dip in the ice on New Year’s Eve.
The swimmers, known in Russia as “walruses,” ran for miles through a snowy forest in bathing suits and festive costumes before diving into the world’s largest freshwater lake.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her New Year’s greeting to warn that the coronavirus crisis would drag on into 2021 even if vaccines bring some hope, as police clashed with revelers near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
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