Thousands gathered on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro last night as billions ushered in the New Year around the world, despite Omicron concerns putting a dampener on the revelry in a second year of muted celebrations.
Brazil's usual celebrations that attract hundreds of thousands were toned down slightly this year — with just a 16 minute fireworks display to entertain crowds and no live music shows in Rio — although huge crowds still turned up at the beach to celebrate.
Russia's Red Square was closed from 5pm in a bid to halt the spread of Covid, while In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building was illuminated by fireworks marking the start of 2022.
The Brandenburg gate in Berlin was also closed to visitors while it was illuminated with a light show, fireworks flew over the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, while Parisians stood on the Champs Elysees watching the Arc de Triomphe.
And in London — despite initially being cancelled — the capital put on a dazzling light show involving the River Thames, the Shard, Greenwich Old Royal Naval College and St Paul's Cathedral.
The illuminations marked the NHS's vaccine campaign and England's Euro2020 campaign — which saw the Three Lions lose out to Italy in the final.
Some parties in major cities have been cancelled due to rising infections. South Africa, where the mutant strain was first detected, lifted a curfew to allow the end-of-year parties to go ahead.
One of the world's biggest New Year's Eve gatherings took place in North Korea where thousands gathered in the main square in Pyongyang for a fireworks show.
China put on a number of its typically extravagant shows with stunning lights, fireworks and pyrotechnic displays, although its usual celebrations were slimmed down due to the surge in cases.
New Zealand, the first major country to see the New Year, kicked off the celebrations after easing its rules on public gatherings, and held a lights display in Auckland.
Australia's largest city Sydney pressed ahead with a firework display that lit up the city's harbour, despite being one of the world's fastest-growing caseloads, before Tokyo joined in with the festivities.
Sydney's 'family fireworks' took place three hours before midnight, with pyrotechnics illuminating the Sydney Opera House in a stunning display throughout the night.
But just hours before the celebrations were due to begin, Australian health authorities reported a record 32,000 new virus cases, many of them in Sydney.
New York saw about 15,000 revellers attend the annual New Year's eve ceremony in Times Square as the city continued to celebrate despite the surge in US cases.
Because of the surge, there were smaller crowds in pre-pandemic years, when as many as 1 million revelers would crowd inner Sydney.
Sydney normally bills itself as the 'New Year's Eve capital of the world' but the vast harbour where people gathered to watch the city's famous fireworks was notably uncrowded.
With tourists still unable to enter the country and many residents fearful of the rapid spread of Omicron, tens of thousands were estimated to have attended.
Still, the city saw New Year's Eve in with a bang - igniting six tonnes of technicoloured fireworks that lit up the Opera House and floating barges, turning the Harbour Bridge rainbow-like.
Dubai is planning a pyrotechnics spectacle at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, while the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah will attempt to break two world records with a huge fireworks display.
In Rio, celebrations on Copacabana Beach will go ahead in a scaled back format - though crowds of revellers are still expected.
In South Korea's capital Seoul, the annual New Year's Eve bell-ringing ceremony was cancelled for the second straight year due to a surge in cases.
A pre-recorded video of this year's bell-ringing ceremony was instead broadcast online and on television.
The ceremony had previously drawn tens of thousands of people. Last year's cancellation was the first since the ceremony began in 1953.
South Korean authorities also closed many beaches and other tourist attractions along the east coast, which usually swarm with people hoping to catch the year's first sunrise on New Year's Day. On Friday, South Korea said it will extend tough distancing rules for another two weeks.
In India, millions of people were planning to ring in the new year from their homes, with nighttime curfews and other restrictions taking the fizz out of celebrations in large cities including New Delhi and Mumbai.
Authorities have imposed restrictions to keep revellers away from restaurants, hotels, beaches and bars amid a surge in cases fueled by Omicron.
But some places, including Goa, a tourist paradise, and Hyderabad, an information technology hub, have been spared from night curfews thanks to smaller numbers of infections, although other restrictions still apply.
In Hong Kong, about 3,000 people attended a New Year's Eve concert featuring local celebrities including boy band Mirror. The concert was the first big New Year's Eve event held since 2018, after events were cancelled in 2019 due to political strife and last year because of the pandemic.
Popular temples in the eastern Chinese cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou and other major cities canceled traditional New Year's Eve 'lucky bell-ringing' ceremonies and asked the public to stay away.
But in Thailand, authorities were allowing New Year's Eve parties and firework displays to continue, albeit with strict safety measures imposed.
They were hoping to slow the spread of the omicron variant while also softening the blow to the country's battered tourism sector. New Year's Eve prayers, which are usually held in Buddhist temples around Thailand, will be held online instead.
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