The celebrations took place this time under the impact of the rapidly spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Despite record-breaking corona infection numbers, New York’s Times Square welcomed the year 2022 with an audience again. At midnight, a glowing crystal ball traditionally slid down a flagpole and heralded the New Year to the cheers of thousands – the so-called “Ball Drop”.
The event on Manhattan’s world-famous plaza has been limited to about a quarter of its normal capacity this year after only a few invited guests were allowed to attend last year. All present had to be fully vaccinated.
New York’s New Year’s traditions weren’t missing this year either: it rained confetti and the song “New York, New York” rang out through the streets. Normally around a million people come to Times Square every year, the party is one of the largest New Year’s Eve celebrations in the world. Millions of Americans watch the big show every year on television – this year there was an appearance by singer KT Tunstall, among others. The major event has its origins in the opening of a new publishing house for the “New York Times” in 1904 – the newspaper celebrated this with New Year’s Eve fireworks.
The celebrations took place this time under the impact of the rapidly spreading omicron variant of the coronavirus. Most recently, the number of infections in the US east coast metropolis had skyrocketed. The number of hospital admissions also went up.
Massenparty in Madrid
Despite the rapidly increasing number of corona infections, Spain’s most traditional New Year’s Eve mass party in Madrid took place again after the forced break last year. Around 7,000 people crowded into the Puerta del Sol square and greeted the new year with a lot of hustle and bustle. Because of the pandemic, the number of participants allowed was reduced by around 60 percent.
There were no other significant restrictions in the Spanish capital. “Big restrictions are useless,” Madrid’s regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso had emphasized again these days. The situation in the hospitals is totally under control.
The 7,000 people on the square in the historic center of the capital and millions in front of the TV screens waited anxiously for the crucial chimes of the clock in Madrid’s town hall tower. Following the tradition, shortly before midnight, they ate a grape for each of the twelve bells that rang every three seconds – and thought of wishes for the New Year.
(APA/dpa)
–
