This New Year’s Eve is being celebrated like no other, with pandemic restrictions limiting crowds in many places.
From New York’s Times Square to Sydney Harbour, big public blowouts are being turned into TV-only shows and digital events. But New Zealand, Taiwan and other places with successes against the virus are celebrating like usual.
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People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus visit Sensoji temple on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo (Hiro Komae/AP)
A woman walks past a fence near the harbour foreshore ahead of New Year’s Eve in Sydney, Australia. One million people would usually crowd the Sydney Harbour to watch the annual fireworks (Mark Baker/AP)
Organisers test the New Year’s Eve Ball ahead of the official Times Square celebration in New York (Frank Franklin II/AP)
In Seattle, the Space Needle’s usual in-person fireworks display on New Year’s Eve will instead be a virtual display streamed on the internet (Ted S Warren/AP)
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Visitors wearing face masks walk near a New Year banner at a shopping district in Seoul, South Korea (Lee Jin-man/AP)
People ride scooters in front of a banner welcoming New Year 2021 in Vung Tau city, Vietnam (Hau Dinh/AP)
People cross the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay, Myanmar, during the last sunset of the year (Aung Shine Oo/AP)
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as New Year celebrations begin in Sydney, Australia. Authorities advised revellers to watch the fireworks on television (Mark Baker/AP)