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Millions of people around the world started celebrating New Year 2021 on Thursday.
Millions around the world began celebrating New Year 2021 on Thursday, in light of quarantine measures in many countries to prevent the continued spread of the Corona virus. Border restrictions, curfews, and the closure of restaurants, cafes, and bars in various countries limit people’s ability to hold parties as they used to to welcome the new year.
Countries on the continents of Australia and Asia welcomed the new year, while billions in the rest of countries are preparing for the new year in light of quarantine measures to limit the spread of the Corona virus, which limits its celebrations to say goodbye to the year 2020, which was marked by the pandemic.
After a difficult year in which at least 1.7 million people died from the Covid-19 epidemic, new mutations have caused the re-imposition of isolation measures and have forced night watchmen to continue with a habit. they did in 2020, which is to follow the activities from home.
The highly anticipated early hours of the year 2021 in the Pacific Ocean states of Kiribati and Samoa at 10:00 GMT, while the uninhabited islands of Howland and Baker will be the last regions to ring in the new year after 26 hours.
It was followed by New Zealand, which won international praise for its handling of the Corona virus, an hour later, and large crowds gathered in Auckland for a fireworks display.
Although the Pacific islands have not suffered the worst consequences of the epidemic, border restrictions, curfews, isolation measures and closures make New Year’s Eve different this year.
In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, light shows lit up the harbor with a dazzling display at 13:00 GMT, but few people attended the event.
Plans to allow crowds were canceled after an outbreak of around 150 new infections was recorded, prompting severe restrictions on travel to and from Sydney.
Karen Roberts was one of the few people allowed to cross established checkpoints in the area. “I think everyone looks forward to 2021 as a new beginning and a new beginning,” he told AFP at a bar overlooking the Sydney Opera House.
In Tokyo, which reached the new year at 15:00 GMT, residents are facing the possibility of imposing a state of emergency after registering 1,300 cases of Coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
Italy, where gruesome images of the makeshift morgue and exhausted paramedics have awakened the world to the severity of the crisis, is subject to nationwide quarantine measures until January 7, with a curfew starting at 10 p.m. .
From France to Latvia to Brazil, police and sometimes military personnel are deployed to ensure that the curfew or ban on assemblies are respected in large numbers.
In London’s worst-damaged, 74-year-old American singer-songwriter Patty Smith will mark the New Year by honoring National Health Service workers who have passed away from the Covid-19 epidemic, in a screening broadcast in Piccadilly Square and streamed on YouTube.
Social gatherings
In Dubai, thousands of residents are expected to see a display of fireworks and lasers at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, despite new cases of the virus.
All attendees, whether in public areas or in hotels or restaurants, must wear masks and register through a barcode (QR).
In Beirut, which is still trying to overcome the disaster of the port explosion on August 4, authorities have also relaxed measures. The curfew was delayed until 3 in the morning. Bars, restaurants and discos have reopened with the announcement of great parties to mark the new year.
Photos and videos of crowded clubs and restaurants are spreading on social media, prompting authorities to warn of the possibility of imposing new closures after the holidays.
On the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, where temperatures reach -35 degrees Celsius, about a dozen Russians took part in an ice dive on New Year’s Eve.
The swimmers, known in Russia as the “seashell,” ran for miles through a snowy forest in swimsuits and festive costumes before plunging into the world’s largest freshwater lake.
“It’s a stimulant,” André Bougay told Agence France-Presse after getting out of the water. Take a bite. “
“This will make you feel ten years younger,” added Ksenia Novoseltseva, another swimmer, with a wide smile.
In her wishes for the new year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned citizens that the “historic” Corona virus crisis could continue into 2021 even with the hope that vaccines will carry.
In Brazil, which has registered more than 193,000 deaths from Covid-19, making it the second country most affected by the epidemic in the world, frightened medical teams await a new wave.
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