Covid clouds world’s NY party
>>NEW YORK: The world ushered in 2022 yesterday with scaled-back celebrations due to new restrictions aimed at slowing soaring Covid cases — although hope remained for a better new year.
New York revived its New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square in limited form, Paris nixed its fireworks show over rising Omicron cases and London’s pyrotechnic display was broadcast on TV to discourage crowds.
The past 12 months saw a new US president, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Sudan and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes.
But the pandemic, now entering its third year, still dominated.
More than 5.4 million people have died since the coronavirus was first reported in central China in December 2019.
The year 2021 started with hope as life-saving vaccines reached around 60% of the world’s population, although many of the poor still had limited access while others refused to receive a shot.
As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new Covid-19 cases past 1 million for the first time.
France on Friday became the latest country to announce Omicron was now its dominant coronavirus strain.
In Britain, the United States and even Australia, the variant’s prominence is driving record numbers of new cases.
New York brought back to life its New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square after skipping the event last year.
But the scaled-down event welcomed fewer revelers than in previous years, with about 15,000 people — all required to show proof of vaccination — allowed in.
In Madrid’s Puerta del Sol about 7,000 people, half the usual capacity, rang in the new year by eating grapes, one for each time the clock chimed up to 12.
Dubai went ahead with its celebrations undeterred, with 36 firework displays at 29 locations.
Police officers patrolled the Champs-Elysees in Paris, which was lit with glittering red lights and festooned with “2022” balloons, also on the lookout for people without masks.
“It is constraining to put on the mask ... but it’s no problem” to follow the rule, said Antoine Pham, 38, smiling.
In Sydney, which bills itself as the “New Year’s Eve capital of the world”, the vast harbour where people gather to watch the city’s fireworks was notably uncrowded.