Students holds candles while participating in a demonstration to say goodbye to year 2021 and welcome in 2022, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Indians, wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, hold the cutouts to welcome 2022 on New Year’s Eve in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as New Year’s Eve celebrations begin in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Workers of a political party and others cheer in front of a huge kite to welcome 2022 on New Year’s Eve in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Pope Francis waves as he arrives to celebrate a new year’s eve vespers Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Nurses perform timed breathing exercises on a COVID-19 patient on a ventilator in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Paris region health authorities have instructed hospitals to cancel more non-urgent medical procedures to free up intensive-care beds for the growing influx of people gravely sick with COVID-19.
A security guard holds up a sign indicating that there is no countdown event at the famed Shibuya scramble crossing, a popular location for New Year’s Eve gathering Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, in Tokyo as people gather to celebrate New Year’s eve.
Nurses enjoy a new year’s cake during a break in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Paris region health authorities have instructed hospitals to cancel more non-urgent medical procedures to free up intensive-care beds for the growing influx of people gravely sick with COVID-19.
Fireworks explode over the Chao Phraya River during New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022,
A visitor wearing a face mask poses for a photo in front of an illuminated decorations on New Year’s Eve in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Attendees at an event that coincided with the New Year Eve cheer as fake snow from a foam machine is blown overhead in Beijing, China, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
A man looks at the decorations for the coming 2022 Year on New Year’s Eve in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
The Smoke Squadron flies over a Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on New Year’s eve, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Residents and tourists prepare to party and watch a fireworks display marking the end of 2021.
A Palestinian woman takes photos of her children near the beach on the last day of the year and New Year’s celebrations, in Gaza City, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Crowds of people celebrate the New Year around the Christmas tree with the St. Sofia Cathedral in the background in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. Despite of COVID-19 quarantine restrictions, a lot of Ukrainians enjoy outdoor New Year events, often ignoring protective measures.
People celebrate during a New Year’s Eve concert in Hong Kong Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
Followers of the Yoruba religion give offerings to Yemanja, a deity celebrated by the African Yoruba religion, at a lake in downtown Brasilia, Brazil on New Year’s Eve, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. As the year winds down, Brazilian worshippers celebrate Yemanja, goddess of the sea, offering flowers and launching large and small boats into the water in exchange for blessings for the coming year.
People celebrate the New Year in Nikolskaya street near an empty Red Square due to pandemic restrictions during New Year celebrations in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. Russia’s state coronavirus task force has registered a total of about 10.5 million confirmed infections and 308,860 deaths, but the state statistics agency that uses broader criteria in its tallying system has reported nearly 626,000 virus-linked deaths in Russia since the start of the pandemic.
People celebrate during New Year’s celebrations at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol in downtown Madrid, Spain, early Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
People celebrate the New Year’s Eve on the Champs Elysees avenue, in Paris, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Party boats cruise over the river Main with only a few fireworks near the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, early Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. Due to the coronavirus pandemic fireworks were not allowed.
Nurse Bess Tribout, center, pops champagne to celebrate the new year in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at the la Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
A man celebrates the start of the New Year, backdropped by fireworks exploding in the background over Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
Fireworks are set off at midnight during the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, early Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, in New York.
Derrick Westmorelandm of Houstonm and Alisha McCordm of Memphis, Tenn., pose with, from left, Melissa Dillon, Preeti Saha, Lydia Penn and Uli Auliani, all of Las Vegas, during the New Year’s Eve party at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
The Village People perform on New Year’s Eve at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Revelers celebrate on New Year’s Eve at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
PARIS (AP) — Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the coronavirus pandemic were — again — the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushered in 2022.
New Year’s Eve, which used to be celebrated globally with a free-spirited wildness, felt instead like a case of deja vu, with the fast-spreading omicron variant again filling hospitals.
“We just need enjoyment,” said Karen Page, 53, who was among the fed-up revelers venturing out in London. “We have just been in so long.”
The mostly muted New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world ushered in the fourth calendar year framed by the global pandemic. More than 285 million people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide since late 2019 and more than 5 million have died.
In Paris, officials canceled the fireworks amid surging infections and reintroduced mandatory mask-wearing outdoors, an obligation followed by the majority of people who milled about on the Champs-Elysées as the final hours of 2021 ticked away.
In Berlin, police urged people not to gather near the Brandenburg Gate, where a concert was staged without a live audience. In Madrid, authorities allowed only 7,000 people into the city’s Puerta del Sol downtown square, a venue traditionally hosting some 20,000 revelers.
