SYDNEY\/SEOUL
\nNew Year celebrations around the world have been called off as the coronavirus casts gloom over the festivities for a second year, but Australia was determined to enjoy the night and there were even signs that North Korea was preparing fireworks.
\nGlobal coronavirus infections have hit a record high over the past seven days, with an average of just over one million cases detected a day worldwide between Dec 24 and 30, some 100,000 up from the previous peak posted on Wednesday, according to data.
\nWith numerous countries registering all-time highs, authorities in many places have called off celebrations to welcome 2022, fearful that the Omicron variant of the virus will take advantage of gatherings to spread even faster.
\nBut Australia was determined to ring in the New Year with a bang despite surges in infections to record levels in some places. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told people to \u201cenjoy the evening\u201d, while Dominic Perrottet, the Premier of New South Wales state, urged everyone to \u201chead out and enjoy the New Year\u201d even as daily infections in the state nearly doubled to a record 21,151.
\nSocial distancing rules are in place and masks are required indoors in Sydney, but thousands of people were expected to flock to its harbourside to watch New Year fireworks, with queues forming at many vantage points from early in the morning. Secretive North Korea also appeared to be preparing to buck the trend and celebrate the New Year with midnight fireworks at Kim Il Sung Square in its capital, Pyongyang.
\nCommercial satellite imagery showed preparations were under way, with a stage being installed in the square, according to NK News, a Seoul-based website that monitors North Korea.
\nThe Rodong Sinmun state-run newspaper ran photographs of flower shops in Pyongyang crowded with mask-wearing customers buying blooms for the celebrations.
\nNorth Korea sealed its borders after the pandemic began and has not reported a single case of Covid-19. Over the border in South Korea, the mood was not so festive. A traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony was cancelled for the second year and authorities announced an extension of stricter distancing rules for two weeks to tackle a persistent surge in infections.
\nChina, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, was on high alert against the virus, with the city of Xi\u2019an under lockdown and New Year events in other cities cancelled as the authorities urged restraint.
\nAuthorities in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, closed 11 roads that usually draw big crowds for New Year, police said, while Malaysia banned big gatherings nationwide and cancelled a spectacular fireworks display at the Petronas Twin Towers in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
\nDozens of police teams were deployed to monitor compliance to Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) in Kuala Lumpur on New Year\u2019s Eve.
\nJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took to his official YouTube channel to urge people to wear masks at parties and limit the number of people attending, while Tokyo\u2019s famous Shibuya entertainment district banned year-end parties.
\nBut Taiwan, another coronavirus mitigation success, held celebrations almost like normal with a pop concert in front of city hall in Taipei and with midnight fireworks lighting up Taipei 101. Those attending the concert had to wear masks, register names and could only drink water.
\nNew Zealand also saw some celebrations. Its biggest city, Auckland, eased restrictions this week to let people enjoy some song and dance. In South Asia, the Indian authorities started to impose stringent rules on Thursday to prevent big gatherings, with night curfews in all major cities and restaurants ordered to limit customers. But despite the curbs, domestic tourists flocked to the famous beaches, pubs and nightclubs of Goa to ring in the New Year.
\nMeanwhile, frustrated Dutch tourists are understood to have travelled to neighbouring Belgium to escape the tough lockdown at home over the festive period, despite appeals from the authorities not to head across the border.
\nIn Rio, celebrations that usually bring three million people to Copacabana Beach, were set to go ahead, and a midnight-to-4am curfew was lifted in South Africa to permit New Year revelry.
\nMexico City has cancelled its massive New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations as a preventative measure after a rise in cases. \u201cI feel that this casts doubt on a lot of what we thought was already secure, because it is scary, it is worrying,\u201d said engineering student Aaron Rosas. Israel meanwhile became one of the first countries to greenlight a fourth booster shot for immunocompromised people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY\/SEOUL New Year celebrations around the world have been called off as the coronavirus casts gloom over the festivities for a second year, but Australia was determined to enjoy the night and there were even signs that North Korea was preparing fireworks. Global coronavirus infections have hit a record high over the past seven days, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-236309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n