Omicron silences New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world, but South Africa offers hope to Reuters

By Renju Jose and Sisipho Skweyiya

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Twenty-one people have escaped with farewell celebrations around the world, mostly silenced by pandemics. But the good news in South Africa – where the authorities removed the border and said Omicron had risen – led to hopes of a happy New Year.

The Australian city of Sydney was a place full of arrogance in the New Year, with spectacular fireworks shining in the harbor below the Opera House (NASDAQ :).

But many other landmark cities were abandoning pyrotechnics around midnight around the world, as the Paris Arc de Triomphe, the London River and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were shut down.

The golden ball was about to fall on Times Square in New York City, but the crowd that shouted the countdown to the exit of the year would be a quarter of the usual size, disguised, socially estranged, and holding vaccine papers in their hands.

However, South Africa, the first to sound the alarm for a new variant of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, gave the world one of the best surprises in the world, becoming the first country to show that the Omicron wave has risen, and without much rise. in deaths. He said the sudden removal of the night limit could mean the celebrations could be hit in 2022.

“I’m sure it will be amazing. I hope Cape Town will return to the old Cape Town we all knew,” said Michael Mched, manager of the Hard Rock cafe next to the white sands of Cape Town. Town’s Camps Bay Beach, excited to see the place preparing to host an unexpected party.

Nearby, tourist Jochem Verbunt said his hope for 2022 was that “the crown will disappear.”

“I’m glad you don’t have to go back to the hotel. You can walk to the beautiful beach here, and see if it brings a party!”

Terribly BAD

The sudden arrival of Omicron has brought a record number of cases to countries around the world. Although deaths have not risen, in the hope that the new variant will be lighter, many countries have reintroduced restrictions to prevent health systems from overflowing. Even in places where reunions are allowed, many people have chosen to stay at home.

In La Querida, in the Pozuelo district of Madrid, a restaurant that serves grilled octopus and stuffed peppers, only four out of two dozen tables were reserved for New Year’s Eve. The place was almost full a few weeks before Omicron removed the business, said server chief Juan Lozano.

“We all thought … we would be able to make some money and pay a lot of things that have a maturity,” he said. “The views are horribly bad.”

Wendy Garcia took her seven-year-old son to downtown Madrid the day before for a rehearsal of the main New Year’s Eve celebration to taste the fun he had last year but without much crowds.

“It’s time to be together, to celebrate a new year and to feel that excitement when the bells ring, to share chocolates and sweets,” he said.

Big Ben in London, above the Houses of Parliament, had to hit midnight and celebrate the New Year for the first time after three and a half years of restoration.

The New York Times Square celebration, which has only 15,000 spectators instead of the usual 55,000, will be a big improvement over last year’s under-dozen audience. But New York State reported more than 74,000 cases on Thursday, and with 22% of tests returning positive, critics questioned whether the celebrations should go ahead.

In Los Angeles, the Grand Park countdown party was canceled. LL Cool J rapper had to stop being the headliner of ABC’s New Year’s Eve TV series after giving a positive.

At a Party City store in Texas, Dana Fenner’s hands were full of hats and horns at home with her husband and three children for a modest party.

“Normalcy. I want everything back to normal,” he said.

The global coronavirus infection was on record in the last seven days, with an average of more than one million cases detected worldwide between December 24 and 30, 100,000 more than the previous peak published on Wednesday, according to Reuters data. .

As workers are ill, airlines have had to cancel some flights. More than 2,500 flights were canceled worldwide since Friday morning, including 1,100 at U.S. airports, according to a website tracking flight FlightAware.com.

But in the latest good news, a British study of one million cases found that those with Omicron had a third more than those who needed hospitalization than those with a previously prevalent Delta variant. The results are “in line with the encouraging signs we’ve seen before,” said Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to the UK Health Safety Agency.

In Asia, celebrations were mostly reduced or canceled. South Korea https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/skorea-extend-curbs-amid-omicron-surge-serious-covid-19-cases-2021-12-31, traditional midnight bell- call- the event was canceled for the second year in a row and authorities announced a two-week extension of stricter distance rules to address the continuing rise in infections.

Celebrations were banned in Tokyo’s Shibuya entertainment district, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took to YouTube to ask people to wear masks and limit the number of parties.

China https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/china-reports-195-new-covid-19-cases-dec-30-vs-207-day-earlier-2021-12-31, non The first coronavirus, which was launched in late 2019, was on high alert, with the city of Xian under blockade and other New Year’s events canceled.

Authorities in the Indonesian capital Jakarta have planned to close 11 roads that are usually crowded for the New Year.

Secretly in North Korea, television footage showed thousands of people watching fireworks in a square near the central Taedong River in central Pyongyang while playing patriotic music.