V Coronavirus’s Omicron scorched New Year’s celebrations in much of the world, with cities from Paris to Kuala Lumpur canceling public celebrations, but London hosted a last-minute televised party and Cape Town suddenly lifted a long curfew.
Midnight passed in Paris without the planned show with fireworks and concerts
of DJs after the city government canceled events scheduled on the Champs-Elysees on the advice of a scientific committee that announced that mass gatherings would be too risky.
Elsewhere in the world, events have been limited or canceled, as has been the case with traditional fireworks over the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the Netherlands, where the gathering of more than four people in the open is prohibited, police have dispersed several thousand people who have gathered in Amsterdam’s central Dam Square.
In London
Source bgnes
however, where fireworks and a light show were canceled in October, authorities announced on Friday that the show would take place on television as Big Ben hit New Year’s Eve for the first time since 2017 after restoration. “I want to encourage everyone to celebrate the New Year in a sensible and careful way, and the best way to do that is to watch the London TV show,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News ahead of the event. Footage from the BBC from the fireworks showed very little car traffic and virtually no spectators present.
Cape Town
abruptly lifted the curfew just in time for the New Year, after South Africa became the first country to announce that the peak of Omicron’s wave in it had passed without a big jump in deaths. South Africa was the first to worry about the new rapidly spreading version of the coronavirus, which is racing around the world.
Hours earlier the Australian city Sydney also celebrated the New Year with something like full splendor and impressive fireworks lit up the harbor above the opera house.
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welcomed the new year 2022 with the traditional descent of the crystal ball of Times Square, the Associated Press reported. Thousands of people stood side by side in the square, counting down the seconds until the 6-ton ball landed at midnight local time. The event was attended by about 15 thousand, much less than the tens of thousands that usually gather.
Partygoers to Madrid they waited in line for hours to reach the main square of Puerta del Sol, where the festivities began with numerous checkpoints, mandatory masks and 60% capacity. A lavish fireworks show lit up the festivities that Spaniards celebrate by stuffing 12 grapes into their mouths with each stroke of the clock that strikes midnight.
Source bgnes
In Asia
the celebrations were mostly restricted or canceled. In South Korea, the traditional bell-ringing ceremony was canceled for the second year in a row, while celebrations were canceled in the glittering Shibuya entertainment district of Tokyo, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on YouTube to wear masks and limit attendance. the parties.
where the coronavirus first appeared in late 2019, is on alert, with a lockdown announced in the city of Xi’an and New Year’s events in other cities canceled.
AND in Sofia the New Year’s fireworks were canceled, and again there was no concert on Battenberg Square in the center of the capital.
At the opposite pole, however, were the festivities
in our western neighbor Serbia. Stormy New Year’s celebrations engulfed the capital, Belgrade,
where mass gatherings were allowed despite fears of Omicron. Large crowds gathered in the city for outdoor concerts, fireworks and a light show at the newly built Dubai-style glass tower, which has become an iconic project for Serbia’s right-wing populist government.
Source: BTA
With its many nightclubs and bars and its relatively low prices, Belgrade has become an important destination for mostly young partygoers from neighboring Balkan countries. Serbian state television RTS reported that about 100,000 visitors came to Belgrade for the holidays and filled the city’s hotels and apartments for rent. The restaurants and bars were full.
Serbian authorities have ignored warnings from medical professionals,
who said that mass celebrations should be canceled while Omicron marched across the continent.
Source: BTA
In an effort to allay concerns, Belgrade city authorities distributed 50,000 masks and set up points for quick tests and disinfection of the entrances to the enclosures for New Year’s concerts. But vaccination certificates, which are required for bars and restaurants, are not required for outdoor events in Serbia.
