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Australia celebrated its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of Covid disruptions, with more than a million revellers flocking to Sydney’s harbourfront and watching an elaborate fireworks display.
Sydney was one of the world’s first major cities to welcome in the new year and drew huge TV audiences around the world, with a public countdown and fireworks display over its opera house.
“This New Year’s Eve we are saying Sydney is back as we kick off festivities around the world and bring in the new year with a bang,” said Clover Moore, the lord mayor of Sydney.
Lockdowns at the end of 2020 and a surge in Omicron cases at the end of 2021 led to crowd restrictions and reduced festivities. However, curbs on celebrations were lifted after Australia, like many countries around the world, reopened its borders and removed social distancing restrictions.
A rainbow of colour lit up Sydney harbour, with 2,000 fireworks launched from the four sails of the Sydney Opera House and 7,000 fireworks from more positions on the Sydney Harbour Bridge than ever before.
For the first time in 12 years, fireworks were launched from four building rooftops to frame the spectacular show, the organisers said.
More than 1 million crowded along Sydney’s waterfront for the multimillion-dollar celebration based around the themes of diversity and inclusion.
A rainbow waterfall was a prominent feature of the New Year’s Eve party.
It is the “party Sydney deserves”, the city’s producer of major events and festivals, Stephen Gilby, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We have had a couple of fairly difficult years; we’re absolutely delighted this year to be able to welcome people back to the foreshores of Sydney harbour for Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve celebrations,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, more than a million people would join the festivities on the ground in Sydney as a billion spectators tuned in from other parts of the world.
In Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, organisers arranged for a family-friendly fireworks display along the Yarra River as dusk fell before a second session at midnight.
Paris staged its first new year fireworks since 2019, after the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to Covid. A 10-minute firework showkicked off at midnight, with 500,000 people expected to gather on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch it.
Elsewhere, the mood was not so celebratory.
Malaysia’s government cancelled its New Year’s Even countdown and fireworks event at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur after flooding across the nation displaced tens of thousands of people and a landslide killed 31 people this month.
The country’s Petronas Twin Towers said it would pare down its celebration with no performances or fireworks.
In China, many people reflected online that a wave of Covid-19 infections since the country switched to living with the virus from a strict policy aimed at eradicating outbreaks had ruined the chances of a celebratory mood.
“This virus should just go and die, cannot believe this year I can not even find a healthy friend that can go out with me and celebrate the passage into the new year,” wrote one user based in eastern Shandong province.
Others expressed hope the new year would herald China’s return to pre-pandemic life.
English (US)