Status: December 31, 2021 12:20 p.m.
The people on the South Sea islands of Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati were the first in the world to greet the New Year, and Australia is already celebrating. Many parties around the world have been canceled due to an increase in new infections.
Billions of people worldwide will be welcoming the year 2022 under Corona conditions in the next few hours. It takes 26 hours between 11 a.m. CET on December 31 and 1 p.m. CET on January 1 for the whole globe to slide into the New Year.
In the South Pacific, 2022 has already started: The inhabitants of the islands of Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati were the first in the world to welcome the New Year at 11.00 a.m. CET. Unlike last year, when public fireworks were canceled due to the corona pandemic, firecrackers were again allowed to be shot into the sky in Samoa. According to the tourism authority, the island nation had five pyrotechnics experts flown in from New Zealand to install the fireworks.
In the Tonga archipelago, meanwhile, the forces of nature did not rest on New Year’s Eve either: The fire mountain, which last erupted in 2014, is active again and is spewing ash and gas into the air. The authorities had been warning against approaching the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano since Christmas.
Hardly any infections on the three islands
Because of their remote position, Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati have so far got through the corona crisis very lightly: In total, only half a dozen corona infections were recorded in the three island states. The borders of the Polynesian archipelagos have been largely closed to foreigners since the beginning of the pandemic.
Many parties canceled worldwide
After the South Seas, the celebrations at the turn of the year continue in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America, on the US east coast, California, Hawaii to the uninhabited islets of Baker Island and Howland Island back to the Pacific.
Many big parties and fireworks had to be canceled, for example in London and Paris. Elsewhere, the celebrations have been scaled down, including events in Madrid and Rio.
Celebrate with restrictions
In Sydney, the huge fireworks will take place again with spectators. However, if you want to experience it live, you had to buy a ticket for one of around 30 viewpoints. Shortly before the impressive fireworks display, the Australian state of New South Wales reported more new corona infections than ever before: around 21,100 new cases were registered in the region on the east coast.
A woman wears a headdress that reads “Happy New Year”.
Image: picture alliance / Jörg Carsten
In Dubai, the tallest building in the world, the 828-meter-high Burj Khalifa, is again planning a spectacular fireworks display, including a light and laser show. There are hardly any restrictions in Russia’s capital Moscow, even if – unlike in the Emirates – the vaccination rate is low there. Among other things, a large fireworks display is planned on Red Square. In New York, the traditional New Year’s Eve party in Times Square is to take place again with spectators – but all visitors must be vaccinated against Covid-19.
In Berlin this time there is no big fireworks display at the Brandenburg Gate and no party with hundreds of thousands. As in the previous year, there is a general ban on the sale of fireworks.