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The world began celebrating the New Year on Thursday, but pandemic measures are hampering the ability of billions of people eager to say goodbye to the 2020s darkened by the pandemic.
After a difficult year, at least 1.7 million people died from COVID-19. people, a new wave of infection has forced the return of quarantine measures and the extension of the 2020 tradition of monitoring all events from the couch.
From Sydney to Rome, fireworks, bonfires and performances must be watched on television or online. Of course, if all these things weren’t canceled at all.
We look forward to 2021 first, at 10am. In Greenwich Mean Time (12:00 pm Lithuanian time), it reached the Pacific island states of Kiribati and Samoa, and after 26 hours, the new year would begin with Hauland Island and Baker Island, both uninhabited.
New Zealand has become one of the few places where residents can celebrate the New Year without seeing the image on their screens, as the virus is no longer detectable in the country.
Thousands of people, most of whom were not wearing masks, gathered on the Auckland harbor promenade, joyfully counting on the last seconds of 2020 and watching as 1 p.m. In Lithuanian times, fireworks were launched from the tower of TV. Several cities also held fireworks, which were subject to minor restrictions.
While the Pacific islands have escaped the worst effects of the pandemic, New Year’s Eve still looks different due to travel restrictions, curfew and quarantine measures.
Tuiataga Nathan Bucknall, manager of Apia, in the Taumeasina complex, surrounded by palm trees, near the capital of Samoa, was pleased that the number of guests was unlimited, but said that due to the declared emergency, we can no longer supply alcohol “.
In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, fireworks lit up a glittering harbor at 3 p.m. At Lithuanian time, however, only a few people saw the event live.
Plans to allow the crowd to monitor the fireworks were abandoned after the new COVID-19 outbreak, which is linked to some 150 infections, was discovered. This chimney has also severely restricted travel to and from Sydney.
“I think everyone is looking forward to 2021 as a new beginning,” Karen Roberts, one of the few who managed to pass the checkpoints surrounding the district, told AFP at a Sydney Opera House bar.
In Tokyo, where the New Year is celebrated at 5 pm In Lithuanian time, it is considered to declare a state of emergency, when a record number of new infections in the city has been detected in the last day: 1,300.
The Italian capital is hosting a similar broadcast of a giant bonfire at the Grand Circus, an ancient Roman stadium. There is also a two-hour program with performances by artists and views of famous places in the city.
In Italy, where shocking images of makeshift corpses and exhausted doctors have made the world aware of the severity of the crisis, a quarantine has been introduced until January 7, with a curfew starting at 10 a.m. night.
From France to Latvia and Brazil, the police and, in some cases, the army must ensure compliance with the curfew or the prohibition of large concentrations.
In London, 74-year-old American singer-songwriter Patti Smith, who was hit hard by the pandemic, will pay tribute to New National Health Service (NHS) staff who died of COVID-19 in Piccadilly Square. The event will be streamed on YouTube.
Meetings
In Dubai, despite many new cases of infection, thousands of people are expected to gather to watch a fireworks and laser show at the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa.
All people attending the event, in public places, hotels or restaurants, must wear masks and register with QR codes.
The authorities will also not impose severe restrictions on Beirut, which has yet to recover from the massive August 4 explosion at the port. The start of the curfew was postponed to 3 a.m. M., With the reopening of bars, restaurants and nightclubs to invite you to attend the great New Year’s Eve celebrations.
On the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, where the temperature dropped to -35 degrees Celsius, a dozen Russians emerged refreshed from the icy water on New Year’s Eve.
These swimmers, called “wolves” in Russia, wore bathing suits and party costumes for several kilometers in a snowy forest and then plunged into the world’s largest freshwater lake.
“It just came to our attention then. It burns a little!” Andrejus Bugajus told AFP after getting out of the water.
Another participant, Ksenia Novoselceva, added with a wide smile: “It makes me feel 10 years younger.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the country’s population on Thursday New Year’s Day that the “historic” coronavirus crisis will continue into 2021, although vaccines offer some hope.
In Brazil, where the number of deaths from COVID-19 was registered, more than 193 thousand. It is the second largest in the world, anxious doctors expect a new wave of infections.
In recent days there have been many images on social media of people without masks having fun in the city, and even televisions have broadcast live as the police shut down bars full of visitors.
“The peak of the pandemic was from May to July, when there was no great movement and we took better care of ourselves. There are many now [ligos] and people are behaving as if there is no pandemic, ”said Luiz Gustavo de Almeida, a microbiologist at the University of São Paulo.
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