Así recibe el mundo el Año Nuevo 2021

Desde el extremo oriente hasta el continente americano, las celebraciones se han restringido notablemente, pero de todos modos se realizarán con la mira puesta en que las vacunas logren controlar la pandemia de coronavirus que marcó a fuego los 365 días de 2020

El mundo despide el 2020, marcado por la pandemia del coronavirus, a la espera de que el 2021 sea el año que ponga fin a la enfermedad que causó más de 1.800.000 muertes.

Por ese motivo, las celebraciones se han visto restringidas en todo sentido, pero la esperanza generada por las vacunas ha reflotado al menos las ganas de despedir sin ninguna nostalgia a los 365 días pasados para confiar en un período de recuperación que se abre por delante.

Aquí, las mejores fotos y videos que llegan desde todo el planeta:

Australia

Sídney fue sede del tradicional festejo de año nuevo con fuegos artificiales en el puerto y la Ópera.

El país se caracteriza por sus grandes celebraciones y las imágenes con fuegos artificiales desde el puerto de Sídney y la Ópera recorren el mundo al ser una de las primeras naciones en recibir el año nuevo por su huso horario.

Nueva Zelanda

Nueva Zelanda recibió la llegada del 2021 con fuegos artificiales desde la Sky Tower, en Auckland.

Sky Tower es una torre de telecomunicaciones y difusión de radio y televisión. Tiene 328 metros de altura y fue inaugurada en 1997.

La primera ministra de Nueva Zelanda, Jacinda Ardern, consiguió la reelección este año en gran parte gracias a su manejo de la pandemia. En el país oceánico sólo se registraron 2162 casos de COVID-19. Su gestión le valió los elogios de distintas partes del mundo.

Fireworks explode over empty streets as 2020 slinks away into history

(Reuters) – The Sydney Opera House fireworks soared into the sky, but the harbour below was empty as a ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed.

No light show will illuminate Beijing from the top of the TV tower. The lions of London’s Trafalgar Square will be barricaded off. In Rome, crowds will not assemble in St Peter’s Square, the Pope will lead no mass, and revelers will not make their yearly dive into the Tiber.

The New Year’s Eve ball will drop on Broadway. But in place of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers packed shoulder-to-shoulder into Times Square, the audience will be a small pre-selected group of nurses, doctors and other key workers, their families kept six feet apart in socially distanced pens.

Good riddance, 2020. Hello, 2021.

With more than 1.7 million people dead and 82 million infected around the globe since last New Year’s Eve – yet hope that new vaccines can help tame the pandemic – this year’s end is like none other in memory. Angela Merkel, in her 16th New Year’s Eve address as German chancellor, said as much.

“I think I am not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy. And never have we, despite all the worries and some scepticism, looked forward to the new one with so much hope.”

“I can only imagine how bitter it must feel for those mourning loved ones lost to corona or who are having to fight against the repercussions of an illness when the virus is disputed and denied by some hopeless individuals,” said Merkel, 66, who said she would get vaccinated as soon as practicable.

Germany has banned the sale of fireworks to discourage crowds. Authorities in Berlin said police would “punish violators consistently”.

“HELL OF A YEAR”

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic originated a year ago, thousands were expected to gather at popular landmarks across the city centre for the countdown to 2021. Some said they were being cautious, but weren’t particularly worried.

“Safety is the priority,” said Wuhan resident Wang Xuemei, 23, a teacher.

In Australia, where the Sydney Opera House fireworks are televised around the world as the first big visual display of the new year, movement has been restricted, gatherings banned and internal borders shut. Most people were barred from coming to Sydney’s downtown on Thursday night.

“What a hell of a year it’s been,” said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of New South Wales state, which includes Sydney. “Hopefully 2021 will be easier on all of us.”

In Britain, where a highly contagious variant of the virus is rampaging and most people are under strict restrictions, authorities ran a public messaging campaign on billboards and in the media urging people to “see in the New Year safely at home”.

Barriers were erected in public places such as London’s Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.

In Italy, the European country which has seen most COVID-19 deaths, bars, restaurants and most shops were closed, and a curfew in place for New Year’s Eve between 10 p.m and 7 am.

Pope Francis cancelled plans to lead New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day services because of a flare-up of his sciatica condition, the Vatican said.

In France, where a night curfew will also be in force, no more than six adults will be allowed to gather around the dinner table, but there will be celebrations – small, perhaps, but with style.

At “A la Ville de Rodez”, an upmarket Parisian delicatessen, manager Brice Tapon was preparing packages of foie gras, truffles and pate for groups of two or three.

“I will… stuff myself with foie gras, champagne and all this food,” said Annie Chaplin, a customer. “And I’ll stay home.”