Omicron slows New Year’s celebrations amid COVID cuts | Coronavirus pandemic News

The Omicron coronavirus variant Paris around the world, which lowered its New Year’s Eve festivities, put out fireworks, London left it on television, and reduced New York City’s famous shot in Times Square.

A lighted ball of waterford glass panels slipped from its pole at midnight in Times Square, but only 15,000 people entered the official viewing site.

New Year’s Eve, celebrated all over the world with a free-spirited savage, felt like a deja vu case, with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant again. filling hospitals, especially in Europe and the United States.

A year ago, the new vaccine available offered the hope that the COVID-19 pandemic could be brought under control in early 2022. Instead, the sudden arrival of Omicron has led to a rise in coronavirus cases worldwide.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” said Sue Park, a Columbia University student who was one of 15,000 people allowed to see him in person. “I definitely think it’s worth coming to celebrate.”

U.S. President Joe Biden noted the losses and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, but said: “We are struggling. We are recovering.

“Go back to work. Back to school. Back to the joy, “Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.” That’s how we got it this year. And how we’ll take it next. Together.

It was midnight in Paris without any fireworks or DJ sets, as city officials canceled events held on the Champs Elysees following the advice of a scientific panel that said crowded meetings were dangerous.

In Berlin, police asked people not to gather near the Brandenburg Gate, where a concert was offered without a live audience.

In the Netherlands, where the grouping of more than four people is banned, police dispersed several thousand people who had defiantly gathered in Amsterdam’s Dam Square, the ANP news agency reported.

To celebrate the New Year, a light screen is displayed in St. Paul’s Cathedral and on the Millennium Bridge [Toby Melville/Reuters]

But in London, when the fireworks and light show were canceled in October, officials announced on Friday that the show would come to life on a television screen as Big Ben hit the New Year for the first time since 2017, after it was restored.

Images of the BBC fireworks showed very light vehicle traffic and there were almost no spectators.

The South African Cape Town – where the Omicron variant was first reported – suddenly appeared he raised the bar Just in time for the New Year.

“I hope Cape Town is back to the old Cape Town we all knew,” said Michael Mchede, manager of a white sand Hard Rock Cafe on Camps Bay beach, and was excited to have the place ready. to arrange an unexpected bash.

A few hours earlier, the Australian city of Sydney was also celebrating its new year in full swing, with spectacular fireworks shining in the harbor above the Opera House.

Woman Wears 2022 Goggles When Attending Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebrations [Hannah Beier/Reuters]

The people of Madrid spent hours entering the main square of the Puerta del Sol, where the celebrations were held with multiple security checks, mandatory masks and 60 percent of the usual level. Only 7,000 people entered the square, a venue traditionally home to about 20,000 partygoers.

A festive fire lit up the party, which the Spaniards mark by inserting 12 grapes into their mouths with each ringing of the clock that strikes midnight.

In Asia, events were postponed or canceled, such as traditional fireworks over the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

People gather in the Puerta del Sol square for their New Year’s Eve celebrations in Madrid [Javier Barbancho/Reuters]

In South Korea, for the second year in a row, the traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony was banned while festivities in Tokyo’s Shibuya entertainment district were banned, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida turned to YouTube to demand that people wear masks and limit the number of parties.

China, where the coronavirus was reported in late 2019, was on high alert, with the city of Xi’an under blockade and other cities canceling New Year’s events.

By the end of 2019, more than 288 million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide and more than five million have died, according to data released by Johns Hopkins University.