Santa Fe New Mexican

A somber welcome to the new year as virus quells revelry

- By Frank Jordansa and Derek Gatopoulos

The New Year’s Eve was being celebrated like no other in most of the world, with many bidding a somber farewell to a year they’d just as soon to forget.

From the South Pacific to New York City, pandemic restrictio­ns on open air gatherings saw people turning to made-for-TV fireworks displays or packing it in early since they could not toast the end of 2020 in the presence of friends or carousing strangers.

As midnight rolled from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas, the New Year’s experience mirrored national responses to the virus itself. Some countries and cities canceled or scaled back their festivitie­s, while others without active outbreaks carried on with caution.

Australia was among the first to ring in 2021. In past years, 1 million people crowded Sydney’s harbor to watch fireworks. This time, most watched on television as authoritie­s urged residents to stay home to see the seven minutes of pyrotechni­cs that lit up the Sydney Harbor Bridge and its surroundin­gs.

Melbourne, Australia’s second-most populated city, called off its annual fireworks show to discourage crowds. Officials in London made the same decision. And while the ball was set to drop in New York’s Times Square like always, police fenced off the site synonymous with New Year’s Eve.

Another of the world’s most popular places to be on Dec. 31, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, pressed ahead with its revelry despite a surge of infections. Images of masked health care workers briefly lit up Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, before fireworks exploded in the sky over the building. Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets and squares marked out for social distancing were largely ignored.

Still, the pandemic robbed the night of its freewheeli­ng spirit. Authoritie­s implemente­d a raft of anti-virus measures to control rowdy crowds in downtown Dubai. At luxury bars and restaurant­s, music blared and people drank, but dancing was strictly prohibited.

For some, the restrictio­ns spoiled the fun. “People come to Dubai because it’s open, but there are so many rules,” said Bashir Shehu, 50, who was visiting from Nigeria with his family. “We pray that next year we can celebrate with some real freedom.”

South Africans were urged to cancel parties and light candles to honor health workers and people who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In many European countries, authoritie­s warned they were ready to clamp down on revelers breaching public health rules, including nightly curfews in France, Italy, Turkey, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Greece. “No one will be on the streets after 10 p.m. (Athens) will be a dead city to make sure no more restrictio­ns are imposed,” said Greece’s public order minister, Michalis Chrisohoid­is.

France’s government flooded the streets with 100,000 law enforcemen­t officers to enforce the nationwide curfew.

A few families gathered in Madrid’s sunny central Puerta de Sol square to listen to the rehearsal of the traditiona­l ringing of the bells that is held at midnight. They followed the Spanish custom of eating 12 grapes with each stroke of the bells before police cleared the area that normally hosts thousands of revelers.

The British government, juggling the twin occasions of New Year’s Eve and the U.K.’s definitive split from the EU, ran ads imploring the public to “see in the New Year safely at home.” Most of England’s population is under tight restrictio­ns prohibitin­g the mixing of households and shutting pubs and restaurant­s.

In Scotland, which prides itself on Dec. 31 Hogmanay celebratio­ns, the government detailed what it had expected not to see. “No gatherings, no house parties, no first-footing. Instead, we should bring in 2021 in our own homes with just our own households,” Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

Many around the world looked toward 2021 with hope, partly due to the arrival of vaccines that offer a chance of beating the pandemic.

“Goodbye, 2020. Here comes something better: 2021,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

While there won’t be crowds in Times Square, the mayor pledged that the city, which has recorded over 25,000 deaths from the virus, would rebound next year.

More than 1.8 million deaths worldwide have been linked to the coronaviru­s since the start of the pandemic. Some leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, used their New Year’s address to thank citizens for enduring hardship during the lockdown and critize those who defied the rules. Others, like Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella, flew the flag for science, urging citizens to discard their fears about getting immunized against COVID-19. “Faced with an illness so highly contagious, which causes so many deaths, it’s necessary to protect one’s own health and it’s dutiful to protect those of the others — family members, friends, colleagues,’’ said Mattarella, 79.

 ?? FAREED KHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? A boy makes a heart sign while the last sunset of 2020 hangs over the Pakistan capital of Karachi on New Year’s Eve on Thursday.
FAREED KHAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS A boy makes a heart sign while the last sunset of 2020 hangs over the Pakistan capital of Karachi on New Year’s Eve on Thursday.

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