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This New Year’s Eve is celebrated like no other in most of the world, with pandemic restrictions limiting the crowds and many people saying goodbye to a year they would rather forget.
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Instead of fireworks and busy crowds, countries opted for low-key events. Source: 1 NEWS
Experiences in Asia and the South Pacific varied greatly by country, as did the coronavirus itself. Some major cities canceled or reduced their traditional celebrations, while some places without active outbreaks continued like any other year.
Australia was one of the first nations to sound in 2021, where in recent years, a million people have filled Sydney Harbor to watch the fireworks.
Instead, most watched on television as authorities urged residents to stay home and the country’s most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, were battling new Covid-19 outbreaks.
Port locations were fenced off, popular parks closed, and famous night spots eerily deserted. An early fireworks display was ruled out, but the seven minutes of pyrotechnics that lit up the Sydney Harbor Bridge and its surroundings starting at midnight brought momentary joy.
Melbourne, Australia’s second most populous city, canceled its annual fireworks show.
“We did it because we know it draws up to 450,000 people to the city for a moment at midnight to enjoy spectacular display and music,” said Mayor Sally Capp. “We are not going to do that this year.”
In South Korea, the Seoul city government canceled its annual end-of-year ringing ceremony in the Jongno neighborhood for the first time since it was first held in 1953. The ceremony normally attracts around 100,000 people and is broadcast live.
Authorities in the eastern coastal areas of South Korea have closed beaches and other places where hundreds of thousands of people often gather on New Year’s Day to watch the sunrise.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge as the New Year’s Eve celebrations begin in Sydney, Australia. Source: Associated Press
The cities and countries that have managed to control the coronavirus have to celebrate it. Taiwan hosted its customary New Year’s Eve celebration, a fireworks display next to the iconic Taipei 101 tower in its capital.
A flag-raising ceremony is also planned in front of the Presidential Office building on New Years morning. The island has recorded only seven deaths and 700 confirmed cases.
Much of Japan quietly welcomed 2021 home, alarmed after Tokyo reported a record daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases. The capital yesterday reported 1,300, exceeding 1,000 for the first time.
Many people skipped what is usually the opportunity to return to ancestral homes during the holidays, hoping to lessen the health risks for extended families.
Train services that generally transport people on overnight visits to the sanctuary were canceled. Emperor Naruhito is broadcasting a video message for the new year, rather than greeting the cheering crowds from a balcony outside the palace.
Millions of Indians planned to usher in the new year with moderate celebrations at home due to nightly curfews, a ban on beach parties, and movement restrictions in major cities and towns after the most contagious new variant of the coronavirus will reach its shores.
In New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, hotels and bars were ordered to close at 11pm. All three cities have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
A crow sits on a pole against the last sunset of the year in New Delhi, India. Source: Associated Press
The drones monitored the movements of people in Mumbai, the financial and entertainment capital of India. Large gatherings were banned, but there were no restrictions on visiting friends, relatives and public places in groups of no more than four people, police said.
Despite an increase in infections, the central Gulf of Dubai went ahead with its massive New Year’s Eve celebrations, including the annual fireworks display around the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world.
In many European countries, authorities warned they were ready to clamp down on revelers who violate public health regulations.
In the Czech capital of Prague, a popular New Year’s destination for people from all over the continent, police prepared to enforce a nightly curfew starting at 9 p.m. local time.
Organizers of Berlin’s annual New Year’s Eve show at the Brandenburg Gate, which regularly draws hundreds of thousands of spectators, are hosting a virtual event this year for people to see at home. Public gatherings and fireworks are banned in much of the German capital.
Italy’s interior minister has ordered 70,000 law enforcement officers to be on patrol by New Year’s Eve and said this year’s celebrations will be “more sober” than usual.
The fireworks will continue as scheduled at midnight over the Colosseum in Rome, but the view will be from the balconies only due to the national curfew.
The British government ran advertisements imploring the public to “watch the New Year safely at home”. Most of the population of England is under lockdown measures in an attempt to slow the spread of the new, easily transmissible variant of the coronavirus.
London’s annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display, which typically draws thousands of people to the banks of the River Thames, has been canceled, but a tradition will continue: Big Ben’s bell is set to ring 12 bongs at midnight to announce the end of 2020.
