ROME (AP) – Curfews, quarantines and even border closings have complicated Friday’s Christmas celebrations for countless people around the world, but ingenuity, determination and imagination have helped to keep the day special for many.
In South Africa, which is fighting the increase in cases and deaths caused by a variant of COVID-19, scientist Túlio de Oliveira spent his holidays in his laboratory doing genomic sequencing. He led the South African team that used sequencing to discover the South African variant of the coronavirus.
South Africa’s new outbreak shows no signs of peaking, experts say, and new restrictions to combat the spread of infections include the closure of many beaches, which often receive large crowds during the holidays.
Pope Francis gave his Christmas blessing from inside the Vatican, breaking with his traditional speech from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square. But tourism in Italy has virtually disappeared with the pandemic and government restrictions on the coronavirus for the holiday have thwarted any plan by residents to flock to the square.
Citing a cause for optimism amid the desolation of the pandemic, Francis said that the invention of the COVID-19 vaccines shines “lights of hope” in the world. In a passionate plea to international leaders, companies and organizations, he said they must ensure that the most vulnerable and needy in the pandemic are the first in line to receive vaccines.
Bells rang around Bethlehem on Friday, when Jesus’ traditional birthplace celebrated Christmas Day. But the closure of Israel’s international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions that prohibit intercity travel in the areas they administer in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have kept visitors at bay.
In Beijing, official churches abruptly canceled Mass on Christmas Day in a last-minute move, after China’s capital was put on high alert after two confirmed cases of COVID-19 were confirmed last week, and two new ones. asymptomatic cases were reported on Friday. One of several notices was placed in the Church of St. Joseph in Beijing, which was originally built by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century.
The closure of the border prevented thousands of migrants from economically devastated Venezuela, who live in Colombia, from returning home for Christmas. The Colombian government closed the crossings in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 infections. Those who tried to return home on vacation this year had to resort to smugglers.
Yakelin Tamaure, a nurse who left Venezuela two years ago, is not going home and said there will be no new gifts or clothes for her two children, 10 and 15 years old. Tamaure said he was unable to find work as a nurse because he still does not have a residence permit in Colombia. His parents are still in Venezuela.
“My mom broke her foot and can’t walk properly, so I’m worried about her,” said Tamaure. “I try to send money to her, but it’s not the same as being there.”
Others have successfully crossed borders elsewhere just to be quarantined. On the first Christmas since the wedding in March, Nattasuda Anusonadisai and Patrick Kaplin are quarantined in a hotel room in Bangkok. Then they had a Christmas tree delivered to his room. They returned earlier this month from a 4 ½ month trip to Canada and the United States. With few tree ornaments, the couple said that they placed items collected on their travels, such as the feather of an eagle and, of course, masks.
Churches in South Korea have started groups of coronavirus infections in the densely populated Seoul, along with hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and prisons. The 1,241 new daily cases reported by the Korean Disease Prevention and Control Agency on Friday was a record for the country.
Song Ju-hyeon, a resident in Paju, near Seoul, who is expecting a child in February, said her home is the only place where she feels safe now.
“It doesn’t feel like Christmas anyway, there are no Christmas carols playing in the streets,” she said.
It’s Christmask, ”declared the Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya, where a second increase in cases has subsided and a brief strike by doctors ended on Christmas Eve. The celebrations were silenced in the East African shopping center, as the church’s night vigils could not be held due to the curfew. It has also been reported that fewer people have returned home to see families, which could help limit the spread of the virus to rural communities, which are even less equipped to deal with COVID-19 than cities.
In Paris, members of the Notre Dame Cathedral choir, wearing protective helmets and coveralls – not against COVID-19, but for building conditions in the medieval landmark destroyed by fire in 2019 – sang inside the church for the first time since the fire .
At a special concert on Christmas Eve, the socially distant singers performed under the stained glass windows of the cathedral amid the dark church, which is changing from a dangerous cleaning operation to a massive reconstruction site.
Thousands of drivers were trapped in their trucks at the English port of Dover, without the coronavirus tests that France now required. The British army and French firefighters were brought in to help speed up testing and free food was distributed.
Love broke through the barriers of loneliness at the San Pedro nursing home in the city of El Astillero, in northern Spain. The 70 residents, aware of the thousands of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes in Spain, instead of spending the special day at the home of relatives, opted for a video chat, or a 30-minute visit, separated by an acrylic wall.
Luisa Melero met her daughter Mercedes Arejula with that protective barrier between them. “As her daughter, I would love to have her at home and hug her all the time,” Arejula said. But she was enthusiastic about it in the nursing home, “they are doing everything to protect her and, again, as her daughter, this is what I want”.
Melero seemed philosophical. “This terrible thing has come to us, so we must accept and deal with it patiently.” Only one relative was allowed to enter per visit, so outside the fence a granddaughter blew kisses to Melero.
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AP correspondents contributed to this report from around the world.
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