New Year’s Eve muted by omicron, many hoping for better 2022

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Good riddance to 2021. Let 2022 bring fresh hope. That was a common sentiment as people around the world began welcoming in the new year.

In many places, New Year's Eve celebrations were muted or cancelled for the second straight year due to a surge of coronavirus infections, this time driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Even before omicron hit, many people were happy to say goodbye to a second grinding year of the pandemic.

But so far, at least, the omicron surge hasn't resulted in the same levels of hospitalisations and deaths as previous outbreaks — especially among vaccinated people — offering a glimmer of hope for 2022.

Australia went ahead with its celebrations despite an explosion in virus cases.

Thousands of fireworks lit up the sky over Sydney's Harbour Bridge and Opera House at midnight in a spectacular display.

Hours before the celebrations began, Australian health authorities reported a record 32,000 new virus cases, many of them in Sydney. Because of the surge, crowds were far smaller than in pre-pandemic years, when as many as 1 million revellers would crowd inner Sydney.

Neighbouring New Zealand had earlier opted for a more low-key approach, replacing its fireworks show in Auckland with a lights display projected onto landmarks including the Sky Tower and Harbour Bridge.

While there hasn't yet been any community spread of omicron in New Zealand, authorities still wanted to discourage crowds gathering.

Because of where the international date line sits, countries in Asia and the Pacific region are among the first to usher in each new year.

In Japan, writer Naoki Matsuzawa said he would spend the next few days cooking and delivering food to the elderly because some stores would be closed. He said vaccinations had made people less anxious about the pandemic, despite the new variant.

Across Japan, many people planned to take new year trips to spend time with their families. On New Year's Eve, people thronged temples and shrines, most of them wearing masks.

In South Korea's capital, Seoul, the annual New Year's Eve bell-ringing ceremony was cancelled for the second straight year due to a surge in cases.

Officials said a pre-recorded video of this year's bell-ringing ceremony would instead be broadcast online and on television. The ceremony had previously drawn tens of thousands of people. Last year's cancellation was the first since the ceremony began in 1953.

In India, millions of people were planning to ring in the new year from their homes, with nighttime curfews and other restrictions taking the fizz out of celebrations in large cities including New Delhi and Mumbai.

Many Indonesians were also forgoing their usual festivities for a quieter evening at home, after the government banned many New Year's Eve celebrations. In Jakarta, fireworks displays, parades and other large gatherings were prohibited, while restaurants and malls were allowed to remain open but with curfews imposed.

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