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Millions of people have been forced to cancel plans or limit Christmas festivities under the new coronavirus measures after a series of new outbreaks around the world.
After a devastating pandemic year that has seen more than 1.7 million people die from COVID-19, Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, was preparing Thursday for a Christmas like no other in its recent history. .
Christmas Eve Mass at the Church of the Nativity is traditionally the highlight of a Christmas season in which hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank.
The mass will be closed to the public this year and will be streamed online, and only clergy and select individuals will be allowed into the basilica, which was sterilized the Thursday before the service.
A procession of bagpipers and drums marched into Manger Square, watched by a mostly masked Palestinian crowd lining the streets under gray skies and a little rain.
Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity will be closed to the public [Hazem Bader/AFP]
“Despite the fear, the frustration of COVID, we will win because Jesus is born in Bethlehem,” said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, during the procession.
Aide Jania Shaheen, who was with her two young children and her husband in the square, said the holiday was “different this year, because we cannot pray in the Church of the Nativity.”
“We cannot get together as a family, everyone is afraid… It is good to see some people here today, but there is no one compared to last year. It is only for the people of Bethlehem, ”he told the AFP news agency.
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait joined other Gulf nations on Thursday to implement a massive coronavirus vaccination program, while across the Atlantic, Mexico began giving injections to front-line medical workers.
Australia banned all but the smallest Christmas family gatherings [Saeed Khan/AFP]
In Australia, often a rare bright spot to keep the virus in check, a growing cluster of cases in northern Sydney have confined residents to seaside suburbs and prompted a ban on all but Christmas family gatherings. smaller.
Jimmy Arslan, owner of two cafes at the epicenter of the city’s outbreak, said commerce was down by 75 percent and his Canberra family was forced to cancel their Christmas visit.
“It is heartbreaking. It is a very, very bitter end to a bitter year, ”the 46-year-old told AFP.
In Europe, much of the continent is going through a dark winter of resurgent outbreaks.
Germany has been forced to cancel its famous Christmas markets and Pope Francis plans to advance the Vatican’s midnight Christmas mass by two hours to comply with the curfew rules in Italy.
In Christmas Eve messages, the Pope expressed his desire to visit crisis-stricken Lebanon and urged political leaders in South Sudan to continue working for peace.
Pope Francis plans to advance the Vatican Christmas midnight mass by two hours to comply with the curfew rules in Italy. [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
For many, the isolation that has defined last year will continue until Christmas Day and beyond, as in Belgium, where residents are largely limited to welcoming a single visitor.
In the Catholic-majority Philippines, some choose to vacation alone due to the risk of contracting the virus on public transportation, as well as quarantine rules that make travel time-consuming and expensive.
“I’m ordering food, rewatching old movies and catching up with my family on video,” said Kim Patria, 31, who lives alone in Manila.
Meanwhile, the British were isolated from parts of the world due to the emergence of a new COVID-19 strain.
Some UK border restrictions have been temporarily relaxed for the holidays, but thousands of other European countries are still stranded in England.
“Home for Christmas? Forget it, ”said Laurent Beghin, a French trucker who delivered his load but was still stuck days later.
Thousands of other European countries are still stranded in England [Justin Tallis/AFP]
In the United States, more than a million people have been vaccinated, but the country’s response to the coronavirus remained chaotic when Donald Trump took a helicopter off the White House lawn for one of the last times in his presidency.
The Republican and his wife Melania were destined for a vacation at their glitzy Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, following their shocking rejection of a massive coronavirus relief package approved by Congress.
New Years celebrations are looking depressing globally, with closings imminent for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Austria in the post-Christmas period, while Portugal has imposed a curfew on New Years Eve.
For now, Sydney still plans to perform in 2021 with its famous Harbor Bridge fireworks show, with New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian promising that the seven-minute show will continue “no matter what.”
But, as with most of 2020, people are encouraged to watch TV from their couches.
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