without big celebrations for the coronavirus, the world is already welcoming 2021

The planet is starting to leave behind a year 2020 marked mainly by the coronavirus pandemic, which forces billions of people to celebrate the transition to New Years in the privacy of your home.

New waves of the outbreak are forcing a majority to follow the festivities from the couch at home, after months of restrictions due to covid-19, which has left around 1.8 million deaths worldwide.

From Sydney to Rome, humans will watch the fireworks and performances via television or computer screen until the festivities are canceled.

The small archipelago of Kiribati and the Samoa islands in the Pacific were, at 10:00 GMT, the first to arrive in 2021while the uninhabited islands of Howland and Baker will have to wait another 26 hours.

Although largely insensitive to the pandemic, countries in the Pacific will experience a new way of living the new year, due to border closures, curfews and containment.

In Sydney, Australia’s largest city, the famous New Year’s fireworks are going to be fired over the bay, but with the almost total absence of spectators after the appearance of a recent outbreak in the north of the city, which adds about 150 cases.

Even the idea of ​​allowing 5,000 people working on the front lines in the fight against the epidemic to come and thank them for their efforts was put aside. Therefore, most residents will have to be content with watching it on TV with up to five guests present.

In the same way, the Romans will attend the festivals that will take place at the Circus Maximus, the oldest stadium in the city. The program includes two hours of shows and lighting of the most emblematic places of the city.

Italy, where photographs of makeshift funeral homes and exhausted caregivers have made the rest of the planet aware of the severity of the crisis, is subject to confinement of its population until January 7 and a curfew in from 10 p.m.

From Brazil to Latvia, via France, police and military personnel will be deployed, in certain cases, to ensure compliance with the curfew and the ban on meetings.

In London, seriously affected, the 74-year-old American singer Patti Smith will give a live concert, in tribute to caregivers of the NHS, the public health system of the United Kingdom, who died of COVID-19. It will be shown live on the Piccadilly Circus screen and streamed on YouTube.

New Zealand, where there are only a few restrictions, is one of the only places on the planet where people can celebrate the transition to 2021, without a screen, and they can even attend fireworks shows.

In Dubai, thousands of people are expected to witness a fireworks display and laser illuminations at Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, despite new cases. All people must wear a mask or register with a QR code.

In Beirut, a city still reeling from the deadly and devastating August 4 explosion in the port, authorities also relaxed measures.

In Brazil, the second most affected country in the world, doctors fear a new wave. Videos of people without masks are circulating on social networks and television has broadcast images of police officers closing bars full of customers.

In her New Year’s greetings, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that this “historic” coronavirus crisis will continue until 2021, even though the vaccine brought “hope”.

JPE