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The UK has welcomed 2021, saying goodbye to a year that for many was the strangest, harshest or even worst in recent times.
It was ushered in by the chimes of Big Ben, an hour after the nation’s clock marked the end of the Brexit transition period, with none of the thousands who would normally be on the street below to watch a dazzling display of fireworks.
Across the country, the bars and pubs that 365 days ago would be filled with people singing Auld Lang Syne and celebrating together were empty and silent.
The statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus in London, as the London New Years Eve fireworks show has been canceled
Westminster Bridge was not empty, despite warnings from authorities to stay away, with car horns blaring as midnight came and a handful of people lit their own fireworks.
In Edinburgh, where Hogmanay is one of the most anticipated festivals of the year, only small groups of people were seen in the typically crowded streets of revelers.
One young woman in a group of four from the same household told Sky News: “We are looking forward to the New Year. It has to be better.”
Midnight at Big Ben on January 1, 2021
Another said: “You have to put a positive spin on it. There is no point in being negative. New Years … there is a vaccine, everything is fine.”
Previously with the UK COVID-19 In cases reaching their highest daily level, one of England’s leading doctors had implored people not to “add fuel to the fire” by gathering in “large and close groups” at the risk of “further transmission.”
The government had run advertisements pleading with the public to “watch the New Year safely at home.”
An empty Princes Street in Edinburgh
Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon called on her compatriots to “mark this New Year responsibly and in line with restrictions … that means there are no gatherings, no house parties, no matches.”
Although exhibitions in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Liverpool had been canceled, there were a few at other venues before midnight, including fireworks at St James’ Park in Newcastle and a light show in Ironbridge, Shropshire.
Among the celebrities who said goodbye to what Victoria Beckham called a “different year.”
A quiet Trafalgar Square in London
Across the globe, the event was held much quieter than usual due to pandemic restrictions on outdoor gatherings.
Hundreds of millions of people were forced to turn to the fireworks made for television or call it a night before, as they could not toast the end of 2020 in the presence of friends or strangers.
However, unlike countries around the world in various states of lockdown or restrictions, New Zealand and several of its neighboring South Pacific islands that also have no active COVID cases celebrated their usual New Year’s activities.
Police next to Eros statue in Piccadilly ask a man to move
Australia was next to ring in 2021, with seven minutes of pyrotechnics lighting up the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but many heard calls from authorities to stay home, leaving the surrounding areas much quieter than usual.
While South Korea canceled its annual bell-ringing ceremony for the first time since 1953, North Korea went ahead with its celebration in Pyongyang, with state media showing residents wearing masks filling the main square for a concert and fireworks. .
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began a year ago, large crowds took to the streets. When the clock in the old Hankow Customs building struck midnight, many cheered and launched balloons into the air.
Fireworks go off over St James’ Park in Newcastle
A 20-year-old student and tourist, Yang Wenxuan, said: “I am so incredibly happy. I hope (in 2021) I can get my bachelor’s degree and I hope I can find a boyfriend.”
Dubai, another of the world’s most popular places to be on December 31, went ahead with its plans despite a wave of infections, with the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, lit up by explosions of fireworks as Tens of thousands of people milled the streets below.
In France, 100,000 police officers were stationed in the streets to enforce a curfew across the country.
Fireworks explode from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Dubai
In New York, where the ball is ready to fall in Times Square as usual, the police have fenced off the site for fear of people gathering.
The audience will consist of a few dozen shortlisted key workers, including nurses, doctors, a food store worker and a pizza delivery man, their families kept six feet apart in socially distanced pens.
Gloria Gaynor has been hired to sing her classic album I Will Survive.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who will press the button to initiate the crystal ball descent, summed up the mood by saying, “It’s actually going to be possibly the most special New Year’s Eve. , more poignant, more poignant.
“In 2021, we are going to show people what it looks like to recover, to come back.”
