The Chinese city of Wuhan – once the global epicenter of the COIVD-19 outbreak – saw large crowds take to the streets to ring in the new year.
The photos of the festivities show some partygoers wearing masks and a social or short distance, while they threw balloons in the air at the Hankow Customs building – a popular New Year’s Eve place in Wuhan, according to Reuters.
Police were seen trying to control the crowds and even urged people without masks to wear one if they want to continue the celebration, the press reported.
The festivities come a year after the World Health Organization said it had first received an alert about a group of pneumonia cases in Wuhan – which later led to the world’s first outbreak of coronavirus.
WHO experts are expected to meet in China in January to investigate where the virus first came from.
Some countries, such as France and Spain, have called in the new year, with restrictions imposed on the public. In Australia and New Zealand, people celebrated 2021, as they normally would before the pandemic.
Back in New York, Times Square was a ghost town where police cordoned off the area as people prepared to watch the famous ball fall from home.