- The city of Wuhan, where the first cases of coronavirus were reported, celebrated New Year’s Eve in style.
- On New Year’s Eve, crowds gathered for the midnight countdown, enjoyed an amusement park and prayed in Buddhist temples.
- In contrast, many cities around the world have been forced to cancel annual celebrations to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Photos from Paris, London, New York, Berlin and Milan show deserted squares where in previous years there would have been thousands of people.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
In Wuhan, China, thousands gathered on the streets to celebrate the New Year.
The city was the ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic, and reported the first COVID-19 cluster exactly one year ago, on December 31, 2019.
People hold balloons as they gather to celebrate the arrival of the new year following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, December 31, 2020
REUTERS / Tingshu Wang
Since May, he has been free of the virus after a strict 76-day blockade of his 11 million citizens.
Freed from the COVID-19 threat and life returned to normal for Wuhan residents, images of the city showed that they could celebrate the New Year by filling the streets to greet the New Year.
The scenes were the opposite of what could be seen in much of the rest of the world, where emergency public health measures banned the usual crowds in the world’s best-known cities.
In New York, Times Square was deserted from partygoers to watch the iconic ball launch for the first time since 1907, Mail Online reported.
Confetti flies around the ball and countdown clock in Times Square during the virtual New Year’s Eve event following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, USA, January 1, 2021.
REUTERS / Jeenah Moon
This week was the deadliest day in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began, with a record number of hospitalizations foreshadowing potentially darker days yet to come.
U.S. states reported more than 3,900 deaths on Wednesday and more than 125,000 hospitalizations, according to data from The Covid Tracking Project.
London canceled its traditional fireworks display near the Houses of Parliament.
Where there were generally large crowds, the police patrolled to interrupt any unauthorized meetings:
Police patrol the banks of the River Thames in London on December 31, 2020. The usual crowds on New Year’s Eve were absent.
Getty Images
A new display of fireworks and lights took place in East London over the Millennium Dome:
A fireworks display at the Millennium Dome in East London has replaced the traditional Westminster show.
Getty Images
Germany also had severe restrictions. The artists played in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, but with no one to assist them:
A commemorative concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin did not have an audience on December 31, 2020, due to coronavirus restrictions.
Getty Images
And in Cologne, the signs warned anyone tempted to see the new year in front of its Gothic cathedral:
A sign alerting the crowds of the imposing cathedral in Cologne, Germany, on December 31, 2020.
Getty Images
Paris imposed a curfew starting at 8 pm, ensuring that there were no crowds around the Eiffel Tower:
View of the Champ de Mars in Paris on December 31, 2020, with the Eiffel Tower in sight. French authorities imposed curfew after 8 pm
Getty Images
Milan, Italy, where the coronavirus first settled in a large western city, also had a curfew to keep the crowds at bay:
The normally crowded Piazza Duomo in Milan, Italy, where the 10 pm curfew took place on December 31, 2020.
Getty Images
Istanbul’s Taksim Square was abandoned in the same way:
A deserted Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, where there was a curfew on December 31, 2020.
Getty Images
A year has passed since the World Health Organization announced the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
However, the origin of the virus and the true timeline of its worldwide spread remains a mystery. A growing body of evidence now suggests that it was circulating months before the first cases caught global attention in Wuhan, China.
A study by the National Cancer Institute in Milan found that four of the coronavirus cases in Italy dated to October 2019.
Research from China shows that people were getting sick in Wuhan in November and early December: an analysis, based on satellite images from Wuhan hospitals and online surveys for COVID-19 symptoms in the area, suggested that the virus could have started to circulate there already late summer.