Happy New Year 2021 Live Updates: Muted celebrations as world ushers in 2021

20 December 2020 | By Administration

Fireworks are launched from the Sky Tower in Auckland to mark New Year. (AP)

Happy New Year 2021 Celebrations Live Updates: After a year of the pandemic, which brought with it deaths, lockdowns, economic insecurities, and anxiety, the world is set for a new beginning in 2021. New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to welcome in the New Year. Kiwis around the country are partying to bid farewell to 2020 and welcome in the new year. New Zealand, which is two hours ahead of Sydney, and several of its South Pacific island neighbors have no COVID-19 cases, and New Year celebrations there are the same as ever.

With fingers crossed, people across the globe are preparing to bid adieu to 2020 and ring in the new year with renewed hopes of happiness and prosperity. However, several countries will witness tepid New Year celebrations as the risk of Covid-19 is not over yet. From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbor, big public blowouts have been turned into TV-only shows and digital events reported The Associated Press. Fireworks displays have been canceled from the Las Vegas Strip to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Even private parties in some places are restricted.

Germany has banned the sale of fireworks, which residents usually set off in on the streets, and a pyrotechnics show at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate has been called off. Similar is the case of the fireworks over the River Thames in locked-down London, where New Year’s Eve also marks Britain’s final economic split from the European Union. Toughening the Covid-19 restrictions in parts of England owing to the “sheer pace” of the spread of a new variant of the virus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday urged people to stay at home on New Year’s eve to contain the outbreak.

In India, Delhi has announced a night curfew on New Year’s eve restricting more than five people to assemble at a public place. According to the order, no celebratory events, congregations, and gatherings at public places are permitted from 11 pm on December 31 to 6 am on January 1, 2021. Bengaluru, too, has imposed Section 144 from 6 pm on December 31 to 6 am on January 1, 2021. In Maharashtra, while hotels, restaurants, pubs, and bars will close at 11 pm and large gatherings are prohibited in public places, families can hold parties in residential places provided it is a small group and social distancing norms are maintained. In Ahmedabad, the restrictions will be effective between 10 pm, Thursday and 6 am Friday. The police have restricted hotels from hosting any late-night parties on New Year Eve on Thursday.