BRIGHT START TO THE YEAR ...but gun cops take a dim view
SPECTACULAR firework displays welcomed in 2022 around the world – but the global spread of Omicron meant many countries endured their second subdued New Year’s Eve.
A dazzling pyrotechnics show lit up Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. However, the iconic waterfront was not as busy as normal for December 31 with the country notching up a record 32,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. Up to a million revellers would normally descend on the city pre-pandemic.
Melbourne scrapped its New Year’s Eve fireworks show. Among the first countries to welcome in 2022 was New Zealand but Auckland’s annual fireworks were cancelled to discourage crowds from gathering despite no major Omicron spread.
A light show was projected onto city landmarks instead. A surge in cases in South Korea saw the annual
‘Curfews lifted so people can party’
New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony cancelled for the second year in Seoul. But young revellers flocked to restaurants and shops in Tokyo to ring in the New Year.
In China, coronavirus restrictions saw the cancellation of a riverside light show in Shanghai which usually draws hundreds of thousands of spectators, but other displays took place in the country
France called off fireworks around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In New York, tightly-controlled celebrations were taking place in Times Square, but the crowd was set be a quarter the usual size amid tight social distancing.
In South Africa, night-time curfews were lifted to enable end-ofyear parties to go ahead as relieved officials said the country may have passed the peak of its wave of Covid infections.