World begins ushering in locked-down New Year amid COVID-19

SYDNEY: The world began ushering in the New Year on Thursday (Dec 31), with pandemic controls muting celebrations for billions of people eager to bid coronavirus-ridden 2020 farewell.  

After a grinding year that has seen at least 1.7 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.

From Sydney to Rome, firework displays, pyre burnings and live performances will be watched online or on television - if they have not been cancelled altogether.

The eagerly awaited first lights of 2021 fell on the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Samoa from 10am GMT (6pm Singapore time), with the uninhabited Howland and Baker Islands the last to tip over into the New Year, 26 hours later.

New Zealand, which has won plaudits for its handling of COVID-19, was next in line an hour later, with large crowds gathered in Auckland to watch a fireworks display.

Although still isolated by international border closures, months of zero recorded cases in the community has let life in New Zealand return to relative normality.

In Australia's largest city, Sydney, fireworks lit up the glittering harbour with a dazzling display at 1300 GMT, but few spectators watched in person.

Plans to allow crowds were scrapped amid a cluster of around 150 new infections that have seen travel to and from Sydney severely restricted.

Even a proposal to allow 5,000 frontline workers to replace absent tourists on the harbour foreshore as a token of thanks had to be abandoned.

"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.

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Resounding bells rung in the new year at Tokyo's Sensoji temple.

Much of Japan was welcoming 2021 quietly at home, alarmed after Tokyo reported a record number of daily coronavirus cases on Thursday at about 1,300.

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Then it was Singapore's turn at the stroke of midnight.

While there were no fireworks display at Marina Bay this year due to public health concerns, residents saw fireworks over 11 heartland locations.

People in Rome will livestream the burning of an enormous pyre in Circus Maximus, the ancient city's stadium, alongside a two-hour event featuring artist performances and illuminated views of iconic sites.

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 and a 10pm curfew is in place.

From France to Latvia to Brazil, police and - in some cases - military personnel are being deployed to make sure night-time curfews or bans on gathering in large numbers are enforced.

In hard-hit London, 74-year-old American singer-songwriter Patti Smith will ring in the New Year with a tribute to National Health Service workers who have died from COVID-19, projected on the screen at Piccadilly Circus and streamed on YouTube.

SOCIAL GATHERING

Thousands are expected to attend a fireworks and a laser show in Dubai at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, despite a slew of new cases.

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All those attending the event - whether at a public place, hotel or restaurant - will be required to wear masks and register with QR codes.

In Beirut, a city still reeling from the Aug 4 port explosion, authorities are also cutting loose.

A night curfew has been pushed back to 3am. Bars, restaurants and night clubs have all reopened and are advertising large parties to mark the turn of the year.

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Social media networks are already inundated with images and videos of packed clubs and restaurants, leading authorities to warn that a new lockdown may come into force after the holidays.

The fears of such a New Year hangover are widespread, and there are ominous signs that new strains of the virus may make the coming months even tougher.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday used her New Year greeting to warn Germans the "historic" coronavirus crisis will extend into 2021 even if the vaccines bring some hope.

In Brazil - which has already recorded more than 193,000 COVID-19 deaths, the second-largest number in the world - fearful medics await a new wave.

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In recent days, social media has been filled with videos showing mask-less revellers enjoying a night out and television channels have even shown live images of police closing bars full of customers.

"The pandemic peak was between May and July, which was when there wasn't a lot of movement and we looked after ourselves more. Now there are many cases and people are acting as if there wasn't a pandemic," said Luiz Gustavo de Almeida, a microbiologist at the University of Sao Paulo.

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