Covid Wave Dampens New Year Celebrations Worldwide

Instead, officials encouraged caution: masks, proof of vaccination and limits on the number of people who can gather. After a 107-day lockdown this year because of a Delta-variant outbreak, Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, seemed ready to move on and muddle through the year-end surge.

Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof. Paul Kelly, said that even though cases would continue to rise, evidence showed that the Omicron variant led to less severe consequences than previous strains.

“It is a different virus, very different from previous versions of the virus,” he said on Thursday, citing studies from South Africa and elsewhere.

And yet, despite the government’s pleas for normalcy, businesses catering to the festivities reported widespread cancellations. Cruise companies, restaurants and music festivals have all experienced an exodus both of workers and customers — some because they were sick or were in close contact with someone who was, others because they feared becoming ill.

Other parts of Australia have reported fewer cases but had their own set of unexpected disruptions. The city of Melbourne canceled a planned light show with overhead drones. Perth, the capital of Western Australia, which has been especially strict with lockdowns and closed borders, canceled music festivals for the holiday and banned dancing at nightclubs.

But a horse race scheduled for New Year’s Day will go on as planned.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, recommends

having small gatherings with family and friends at homes where people are vaccinated with booster shots, citing a low risk for infection.

Here’s a look at how Omicron has forced some cities to change their plans for Dec. 31:

New York City

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a downsizing of the celebration in Times Square to at most 15,000 guests, nearly a quarter of the usual amount, who will be allowed in at 3 p.m. at the earliest. Attendees will be required to wear masks and show proof of full vaccination.

Los Angeles

Several Los Angeles County holiday events have been canceled, including the New Year’s countdown in Grand Park, which will now be streamed.

Boston

All First Night Boston events have been moved outdoors, and vaccinations, booster shots and rapid tests will be available at the festivities.

Atlanta

The city’s Peach Drop, an outdoor celebration that typically draws thousands, was canceled.

San Francisco

With staffing shortages of municipal workers brought on by Omicron infections, the city canceled its New Year’s Eve fireworks show.

Seattle

There will be no spectators allowed at the Space Needle’s fireworks show. People can watch on a livestream instead.

London

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, announced last week that the New Year’s Eve event in Trafalgar Square was canceled, saying, “The safety of Londoners must come first.”

Paris

Paris has canceled its celebration, which was to include fireworks over the Champs-Élysées. Large public parties are also banned. Additionally, wearing masks outdoors is mandatory, beginning Friday.

Rome

Celebrations have been scrapped in several Italian cities, including Rome and Venice. Outdoor events have been banned, and nightclubs will be closed through January.

Berlin

Berlin’s annual New Year’s Eve party at the Brandenburg Gate will go on, but without an audience. The performances will be live on television. Gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 people.

Tokyo

Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo typically attracts tens of thousands of people for one of the biggest New Year celebrations in the world. This year, like last year, the revelry has been called off. Public drinking has been banned in Shibuya on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

New Delhi

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority has banned all social, political and cultural gatherings, including Christmas and New Year celebrations, according to The Economic Times newspaper.

Cape Town

Cape Town is still allowing New Year’s Eve gatherings, but several restrictions are in place. Masks are required in public areas and nightclubs are closed.

Casablanca

The authorities banned New Year’s Eve celebrations throughout Morocco, including in Casablanca, its most populous city. There will be a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m.

Kampala

There is a ban on New Year’s Eve fireworks across Uganda, including in Kampala, the capital. Nighttime religious services are also prohibited.

Madrid

Large public festivities have been canceled across much of Spain. One exception is Madrid, where a crowd of up to 7,000 people is allowed to gather at the central Puerta del Sol square.

Mexico City

Mexico’s capital canceled its typically giant celebrations.

Some scientists were quick to forecast the same pattern elsewhere.

“We’ll be in for a tough January, as cases will keep going up and peak, and then fall fast,” said Ali Mokdad, a University of Washington epidemiologist who is a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist. While cases will still overwhelm hospitals, he said, he expects that the proportion of hospitalized cases will be lower than in earlier waves.

Omicron, bearing dozens of troubling mutations, was first identified in Botswana and South Africa in late November. It rapidly became dominant in South Africa, sending case counts skyrocketing to a pandemic peak averaging more than 23,000 cases a day by mid-December, according to the Our World in Data project at Oxford University.

As of last week, Omicron appeared in 95 percent of all new positive test samples that were genetically sequenced. It has spread to more than 100 countries, infecting previously vaccinated and previously infected people, and its proliferation has strained hospitals and thinned work forces in countries like the United States and Britain.

In South Africa, overall case counts have been falling for two weeks, plummeting 30 percent in the last week to an average of less than 11,500 a day. Confirmed cases declined in all provinces except Western Cape and Eastern Cape, the data showed, and there was a drop in hospitalizations in all provinces except Western Cape.

There are many caveats. The case figures might have been distorted by reduced testing during the holiday season. And many people in the most affected area had some measure of immunity, either from vaccination, prior infection or both, that might have protected them from serious illness.

However, research teams in South Africa, Scotland and England have found that Omicron infections more often result in mild illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus, causing fewer hospitalizations.

South African officials last week ended tracing efforts and scrapped quarantine for people who were possibly exposed but not experiencing symptoms. “Containment strategies are no longer appropriate — mitigation is the only viable strategy,” the government said then. On Thursday, the government announced an end to its midnight-to-4 a.m. curfew. Still, gatherings are limited to 1,000 people indoors, with appropriate social distancing, and 2,000 people outdoors. Face coverings in public places are mandatory.