Australia celebrated its first restriction-free New Year's Eve after two years of COVID-19 disruptions, as the world began bidding farewell to a year marked for many by the war in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming. Revellers celebrated across Asia from China to the Philippines to
Australia celebrated its first restriction-free New Year's Eve after two years of COVID-19 disruptions, as the world began bidding farewell to a year marked for many by the war in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming.Sydney, one of the world's first major cities to welcome in the New Year, did so with a typically dazzling fireworks display, which for the first time featured a rainbow waterfall off the famous Harbour Bridge.
In China, rigorous COVID-19 restrictions were lifted only this month in the government's reversal of its"zero-COVID" policy, a switch that has led to soaring infections and meant some people were in no mood to celebrate. Officers shuttled people away from at least one popular New Year’s Eve gathering point and used loudspeakers at various locations blasting out a short message on a loop advising people not to gather.
It was the city's biggest New Year's Eve celebration in several years. The event was cancelled in 2019 due to often violent social unrest, and was scaled down in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. "I would really like this year to be over", said Kyiv resident Oksana Mozorenko, 35, though she said her family had put up a Christmas tree and bought presents to make it"a real holiday".on Ukraine in three days on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, with explosions reported throughout the country.
Like many places, the Czech capital Prague was feeling the pinch economically and so was not holding a fireworks display.