New Year's celebrations around the world dampened by Omicron

Fireworks are seen over Sydney harbour during New Year's Eve celebrations on January 01, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Wendell Teodoro/Getty Images

A New Year's Eve dampened by Covid-19 may not be unprecedented but it is certainly unwelcome.

For the second year, New Year's celebrations around the globe will be muted as the latest variant rapidly spreads across the continents.

New Year’s Festival Dublin illuminates iconic buildings with sparkling light installations across the city to celebrate and welcome in the new year. Picture: Fáilte Ireland / Allen Kiely

Here in Ireland, there will be no crowds gathering to watch fireworks, no dancefloor countdowns and, for many people, not even a small family get-together to see out the old year and ring in the new.

Dublin's annual New Year's Festival, including the matinée in Dublin Castle and a street party near Stephen's Green was cancelled when new public health restrictions were introduced by Government before Christmas.

Instead, we enter 2022 with a quiet, fragile hope that perhaps this will be the year we leave Covid-19 behind.

The Pacific island of Tonga was first to ring in the New Year and celebrated at 10am Irish time, followed by New Zealand an hour later.

LIVE: New Zealand welcomes in the New Year with a lightshow https://t.co/yCz9QwvXcY

— Reuters (@Reuters) December 31, 2021

 

Australia, where new Covid-19 infections have soared again to a record of more than 32,000, has welcomed in 2022 with their traditional fireworks display over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

Happy New Year! Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2022. 🎉🎆🎇 pic.twitter.com/y4860HPQr9

— Sydney Opera House (@SydOperaHouse) December 31, 2021

Elsewhere in Asia, celebrations were mostly scaled-down or called off.

South Korea cancelled their traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony for the second year, however, North Korea held a fireworks display at Kim Il Sung Square in its capital, Pyongyang.

#WATCH | North Korea welcomes #NewYear2022 with a firework display near the Taedong River

(Source: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/d29i9Qw7Ss

— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2021

In Japan, celebrations were banned in Tokyo's Shibuya entertainment district, with the government encouraging mask-wearing and a limit to numbers at parties.

China was on high alert as the city of Xian is under full lockdown, while other new year events across the country were cancelled.

With less than two months to go until Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese government is bracing for any challenge to its zero-Covid strategy.