Sydney, the Australian city hardest hit by the Omicron wave, will push New Year’s Eve celebrations on Friday, with authorities encouraging revelers to enjoy the festivities despite a record number of COVID-19 cases.
Thousands are expected to flock to the best spots on the harbor to see Sydney’s famous fireworks display, the traditional 12-minute pyrotechnic display that ushers in the New Year, with queues at many vantage points since early morning.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison wanted people to « enjoy the evening » while NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet urged everyone to « enjoy the New Year » as daily infections in the state nearly doubled to a record 21,151 on Friday / p> Many countries have scaled back the New Year celebrations in order to contain the rampant contagion from the Omicron coronavirus variant, but the celebrations we rden continued as usual in Sydney after last year’s plans were weakened due to COVID-19.Sydney, the capital of the state of New South Wales (NSW), is one of the first major cities in the world to open every New Year with a public countdown and fireworks over the famous opera house.
All Australian states, with the exception of Western Australia, have started living with the virus after higher vaccination rates and easing of restrictions pushed cases to record highs.
Despite the record increase, Perrottet reiterated on Friday that NSW is « in a very strong position » due to higher vaccinations and that hospitals can cope with the Omicron wave.
« While the number of cases compared to the Delta variant increase significantly, our position remains incredibly strong, « Perrottet told reporters.
Of more than 135,000 active cases are in Australia According to official information, only 127 people in the intensive care unit.
Australia reported more than 32,400 cases on Friday, a new pandemic high that by far exceeded the previous record of 21,329 the day before, as total infections approached 400,000. 2,239 deaths have been recorded since the pandemic began.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
« );
render.focus ();
api = « https://gen.ndtv.com/screenshot/webscreenshot.aspx?apikey=3cb0166badabscreenshot7bfa6b56b4c82c40b620&siteid=7&width=600&height=600&scale=600&scale=1CSSEAND » CHARid = « ;
$ .ajax ({
URL: API,
dataType: « jsonp »,
jsonp: « callback »,
Timeout: 10,
asynchronous:! 1,
Success: function (s) {
var n = « »;
loc = window.location;
loc = loc.href;
loc = loc.replace (« # », « »);
snapid = e.snapchatid;
render.firebase.initializeApp ({projectId: « firestore-realtime-push »});
render.firebase.firestore (). collection (« snapchat.ndtv.com »). doc (snapid) .onSnapshot (
Function (s) {
var t = e.data ();
imgpath = t.imagepath;
if (imgpath! = ») {n = loc ‘? sticker =’ t.imagepath; render.location.href = « https://www.snapchat.com/scan?attachmentUrl= » n;}
})
},
Error: function () {
render.location.href = « https://www.snapchat.com/scan?attachmentUrl= » n;
}
})
}
}
Follow the latest news live on NDTV.com for news from India and around the world.
Keywords:
