World ushers in ‘Covid New Year’
Muted celebrations in shadow of virus
NEW YORK: Confetti fluttered on to frontline workers scattered across Times Square after fireworks burst above eerily quiet landmarks from Sydney Harbour Bridge to Copacabana beach, as the world ushered in the New Year with muted celebrations and said good riddance to a pandemicridden 2020.
After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.8 million people die from Covid-19, fresh waves of infection have sparked renewed lockdowns and forced would-be revellers to extend their 2020 tradition of watching events from the sofa.
In New York’s famous Times Square, the usual overflow crowd was replaced with a group of specially invited frontline workers, separated by barricades to enforce social distancing. The public was blocked from the square, where a crystal ball dropped at midnight following performances from stars including Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Gaynor.
“I think I feel hopeful. It can’t get much worse than the last year,” 31-year-old actress and nanny Jordan Mann said from her home in Brooklyn. “I’m just really hoping that we have a lot more wisdom next year from the leaders in our country and that they’ll actually be able to help us out,” she said as she spent the night with her roommates eating Indian takeout.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office in January, sounded a positive note as the US, the worsthit country by Covid-19, is nearing 20 million recorded infections and 345,000 deaths.
“I’m more optimistic about America’s chances than I’ve ever been,” he said in a video interview on ABC’s countdown programme.
“America can do anything and I’m absolutely positively confident, confident we’re gonna come back and come back even stronger than we were before.”
In New Zealand, which has won plaudits for its handling of the coronavirus, large crowds gathered in Auckland for a fireworks display.
In Australia’s largest city, Sydney, fireworks lit up the glittering harbour with a dazzling display, but few spectators watched in person.
“I think everybody is looking towards 2021 as a fresh beginning and a fresh start,” Karen Roberts, among the lucky few who were allowed past checkpoints around the area, told AFP at a bar nestled under the Sydney Opera House.
Some Hong Kongers, despite restrictions, ventured out to mark the start of the year, gathering on the Victoria Harbour waterfront to take selfies.
In Tokyo, where residents face the prospect of a state of emergency after infections touched new highs, people queued in face masks to offer New Year prayers.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin acknowledged in a New Year’s address that a second wave of Covid-19 was battering the nation.
“The fight against it does not stop for a minute,” he said.
Italy — where shocking images of makeshift morgues and exhausted medics awoke the world to the severity of the crisis — is on a nationwide lockdown until Jan 7 with a 10pm curfew in place.
From France to Latvia and Brazil, police and — in some cases — military personnel were deployed to enforce curfews or bans on large gatherings.
Paris and Athens both featured socially distanced gatherings, with a virtual concert and light show over Notre Dame in the French capital and fireworks over the Acropolis in Greece.
In London, a few dozen revellers arrived in Parliament Square to watch Big Ben chime 11.00pm — midnight in Brussels — marking the moment that Brexit finally became a reality, with Britain severing its turbulent halfcentury partnership with Europe.
Police ordered them home well before midnight, however.
A fireworks and laser show was held in Dubai at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, where there has been a slew of new cases.
Those watching were required to wear masks and register with identifying QR codes.
On the banks of Lake Baikal in Siberia, where temperatures plummet to as low as -35C, around a dozen Russians emerged invigorated after a New Year’s Eve ice dip.
The swimmers, known in Russia as “walruses,” ran several kilometres through a snowy forest in swimsuits and festive costumes before plunging into the world’s largest freshwater lake.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel used her New Year greeting to warn the coronavirus crisis would extend into 2021 even if vaccines bring some hope, as police clashed with revellers near the Brandenburg gate in Berlin.