Millions of people have had to cancel plans or restrict Christmas receptions under the new coronavirus measures after several new events around the world killed.
After a year of erosion pandemics that saw more than 1.7 million people die from COVID-19, Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, was preparing Thursday for Christmas unlike any in recent history.
Traditionally, Christmas Eve Mass at the Divinity Church is a major holiday event where hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the Palestinian city on the West Bank.
The mass will be closed to the public this year and will be broadcast online, and only clergy and individuals will be selected inside the basilica, which was sterilized earlier Thursday before the service.
A procession of pipers and drums marched towards Manger Square, watched by a large Palestinian crowd lining the streets under gray skies and raining rain.
Christmas Eve Mass at the Theological Church will be closed to the public [Hazem Bader/AFP]
“Despite the fear, the persecution from COVID, we will overcome it because Jesus is born in Bethlehem,” said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, during the march.
Attendant Jania Shaheen, who was with her two young children and her husband in the square, said the holiday was “different this year, as we cannot pray at the Church of the Nativity. ”.
“We can’t gather as a family, everyone is scared… It’s good to see some people here today but nobody compares to last year. It’s just for the people of Bethlehem, “she told AFP.
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait on Thursday teamed up with other Gulf countries in rolling out a major coronavirus vaccination program, and across the Atlantic, Mexico began providing jobs to front-line medical workers.
Australia banned all but the smallest Christmas family gatherings [Saeed Khan/AFP]
In Australia – often a rare white space for virus surveillance – a number of growing cases in northern Sydney have restricted residents to the coast and banned it. put on all but the smallest Christmas family gathering.
Jimmy Arslan, who owns two cafes in the middle of the budget revolution, said trade was down 75 per cent and his Canberra-based family had to cancel their Christmas trip.
“It’s heartbreaking.” It’s a very bitter end to a painful year, “the 46-year-old told AFP.
In Europe, much of the continent is surviving a dark winter of eruptions.
Germany has had to postpone its infamous Christmas markets and Pope Francis plans to hold a Vatican Christmas midnight mass with two hours to meet Italian curfew rules.
In Christmas Eve messages, the pope stated that he wanted to visit a desperate Lebanon and urged political leaders in South Sudan to continue working for peace.
Pope Francis plans to hold a Vatican Christmas midnight mass with two hours to meet Italian curfew rules [Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters]
For many, the loneliness of the past year will continue into Christmas day and beyond – such as in Belgium, where residents are largely limited to welcoming one visitor.
In the Catholic-majority Philippines, some choose to spend the holidays alone because of the risk of catching the virus on public transport, as well as quarantine rules making time travel and expensive.
“I order food in, return old movies, and catch up with my family with video,” said Kim Patria, 31, who lives alone in Manila.
Britons, meanwhile, were cut off from areas of the world, as a result of the new COVID-19 strain.
Some UK border restrictions have been relaxed for the holidays, but thousands from other European countries are still missing in England.
“Home for Christmas?” Don’t forget it, ”said Laurent Beghin, a French lorry driver who delivered his cargo but was still involved days later.
Thousands from other European countries are still in England [Justin Tallis/AFP]
In the United States, more than a million people have been vaccinated, but the country’s coronavirus response remains chaotic while Donald Trump helicopters off the White House lawn for one of the last moments in power. aige.
The Republican and his wife Melania were tied up for a vacation at his elegant Mar-a-Lago tourist center in Florida, after refusing to panic about a major coronavirus relief package handed out by Congress.
New Year’s celebrations are looking down around the world, with locks looming for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Austria in the post-Christmas period, while Portugal is on the cusp of Christmas Eve. Happy New Year.
For now, Sydney still expects to shout in 2021 with the infamous Bridge Fireworks display, with Gladys Berejiklian, New South Wales’ premier state promising to make the seven-minute show go “ whatever ”.
But as with most of 2020, people are encouraged to watch television from their sofas.