E-Paper
Photos: The world rings in 2021 amid Covid-19 restrictions
This New Year’s Eve was celebrated like no other in most of the world, with many bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer 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 joyous 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 like any other year.
Updated on: Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM IST
Share via
Copy link
1/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge during downsized New Year's Eve celebrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in Australia on January 1, 2021. (Mick Tsikas / AAP Image for NSW Government via REUTERS)
2/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
Times Square missing its jubilant crowds ahead of a virtual New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York on December 31. The annual New Year's Eve ball drop event, which typically draws more than 1 million people, was closed to the public to avoid the risk of Covid-19 virus contagion. (Angus Mordant / Bloomberg)
3/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
People gather to celebrate the arrival of the new year in Wuhan, China on December 31. In Wuhan, where the virus originated in late in 2019, much appeared to have gone back to a normal most nations didn’t recognise. (Tingshu Wang / REUTERS)
4/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
India Gate on New Year's Eve in New Delhi, devoid of the thousands that throng to ring in the new year. In several Indian metros night curfews were enforced to keep people indoors and to avoid infections spreading. (Amal KS / HT Photo)
5/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
People stand at a hotel with a sign “Happy New Year” in one of its windows, during New Year's Eve amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic in Jakarta, Indonesia on December 31. (Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana / REUTERS)
6/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
Fireworks explode over the Kremlin and almost empty Red Square during New Year's celebrations with the St. Basil's Cathedral (L), and the Spasskaya Tower , in Moscow, Russia on January 1. (Pavel Golovkin / AP)
7/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
A couple embrace during New Year's day celebrations in central Kyiv, Ukraine on January 1. (Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS)
8/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
Police officers block the boulevard 'Strasse des 17. Juni' on which the New Year's Eve celebrations with thousands of people have usually taken place in previous years, in Berlin, Germany, December 31. (Hannibal Hanschke / REUTERS)
9/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
People watch New Zealand band “The Black Seeds” perform during New Year's Eve celebrations at Hagley Park in Christchurch, New Zealand on January 1. New Zealand and its South Pacific island neighbours have no Covid-19, and New Year celebrations there were the same as ever. (Ernest Kung / AP)
10/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
People watch a light display from the Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort as part of New Year's Eve celebrations in Singapore on December 31. (Roslan Rahman / AFP)
11/11
View Photos in a new improved layoutUpdated on Jan 1, 2021 11:30 AM
