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Millions of people around the world are gearing up for a New Year’s Eve like no other, with closed closures, restrictions, and curfews in dozens of countries in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19 ahead of Covid-19 campaigns. vaccination start to take effect.
New Year’s Eve marks a year since the World Health Organization first mentioned a mysterious pneumonia in China later identified as Covid-19, which in 2020 killed more than 1.79 million people and devastated the global economy in unprecedented ways.
But international efforts helped develop vaccines in record time and, following Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the candidate developed by Oxford and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has become the third to gain approval in the Western world.
At UK, which reported 981 deaths on Wednesday amid an increase related to a new variant of Covid, people planning to celebrate New Year’s Eve were warned to leave the holidays for later in 2021 as “Covid loves the crowd”.
On Wednesday, when 50,023 new cases were registered, the government announced stricter restrictions. Professor Stephen Powis, England’s NHS National Medical Director, said staying home and seeing 2021 “within the rules” would reduce infections and ease pressure on hospitals.
He said at a press conference in Downing Street: “We know that it is the end of the year, it is a time when people traditionally want to celebrate. But it is absolutely vital that this year, everyone follows the lead and stays home and doesn’t mix. “
Powis added: “We can all play a role in the fight against this terrible virus: stay home, mark the new year with those closest and dearest within the rules.
“This action will reduce infections, relieve pressure on hospitals, and this is how everyone can help save a life. Covid loves crowds, so save the holidays for later in the year. “
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also urged people to follow the rules and “see the new year safely at home.”
France has announced that it will deploy 100,000 policemen and gendarmes to suppress festivals, meetings and the traditional burning of vehicles on December 31.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said officers would also strictly enforce the national curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. as part of what he described as a “fight against unauthorized public gatherings and the phenomenon of urban violence “.
Police operations will be concentrated in city centers and “sensitive” neighborhoods. The number of policemen and gendarmes is the same as last year. Darmanin has also called on local police chiefs to impose bans on the sale of fuel or alcohol in containers.
In Germany, which is under partial lockdown, Angela Merkel said in her last New Years speech as Chancellor that 2020 was by far the most difficult of her 15 years of leadership, but the start of Covid-19 vaccines made 2021 a a year of hope.
In a rare display of emotion, Merkel, who led Germany and the European Union through the financial crisis of 2008, the Greek debt crisis a year later and the immigrant crisis five years ago, condemned a protest movement. opposed the closures and said he would be vaccinated. when the injection was widely available.
“I think I’m not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy and never, despite all the concerns and some skepticism, did we look forward to the new year with such hope.”
His message will resonate with the majority of the people in a country battling a rise in coronavirus infections and deaths, and where the majority support lockdown measures and vaccination as the best weapons against the virus.
Praise for Merkel, a trained physicist whose management of the pandemic has been guided by scientific advice, for taming the first wave has, however, turned to criticism for her apparent inability to tackle the second.
“I can only imagine how bitter it must be for those loved ones who are mourning and lost to the crown or who have to fight the repercussions of illness when the virus is disputed and denied by some desperate people,” Merkel said.
“Conspiracy theories are not only false and dangerous, they are also cynical and cruel,” he added. “I’ll also get vaccinated when my turn comes.”
Health Minister Jens Spahn said he hoped the country would have a “calmer New Year’s Eve” in memory.
In other parts of the world, authorities urged the public to ring in the new year at home.
While the crystal encrusted New Year’s Eve ball will drop in Times Square at midnight on December 31, its descent will be greeted by empty streets due to Covid-19, rather than hundreds of thousands of revelers. New York City authorities have announced that Times Square will not be open to the public. Those who wish to attend can stream online or watch television.
This dramatic change is not unique to Manhattan. US Cities are changing how they sound in 2021 as Covid-19 cases and deaths rise across the country. The most recent data from Johns Hopkins University reports 19,448,626 cases in the US and 336,947 deaths.
Even the main cities of Taiwan They have cut down on New Year’s Eve events and are telling people to watch fireworks and other festivities at home, after the first case of the highly infectious variant of the coronavirus originally discovered in Britain.
Taiwan has kept the pandemic well under control thanks to early and effective prevention measures, including quarantines for every arrival from abroad, with 800 confirmed cases, including seven deaths, almost all imported. But the government was baffled by its first national broadcast since April, confirmed this month, and the first case of the British variant, announced on Wednesday. Both people are isolated in the hospital.
The cities of Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung, Taoyuan, Chiayi and Keelung said Wednesday night that they would cancel public attendance at events such as fireworks displays and asked people to watch it at home online and on television.
In From Australia Sydney, the largest city, where a coronavirus outbreak has been growing daily, people have been asked to stay home and avoid the famous midnight fireworks display by the harbor. Restrictions have also been introduced in the southern state of Victoria.
But in New Zealand, which managed to eliminate the coronavirus after a strict seven-week lockdown, New Year’s Eve plans proceeded as usual.
