As countries across Europe start celebrating the new year, our correspondent in Athens, Helena Smith, has sent in this shot of fireworks over the Acropolis. Party-goers are out and about across England tonight, with large crowds gathered in cities such as London and Manchester. The Associated Press has a piece this evening about the trepidation with which all corners of the globe are saying goodbye to 2021 and ringing in 2022. Here is a short extract below: Sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections to come and hopes for an end to the coronavirus pandemic were — again — the bittersweet cocktail with which the world said good riddance to 2021 and ushered in 2022. New Year’s Eve, which used to be celebrated globally with a free-spirited wildness, felt instead like a case of deja vu, with the fast-spreading omicron variant again filing hospitals. At the La Timone hospital in the southern French city of Marseille, Dr. Fouad Bouzana could only sigh Friday when asked what 2022 might bring. “Big question,” he said. “It’s starting to become exhausting, because the waves come one after another.” The mostly muted New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world ushered in the fourth calendar year framed by the global pandemic. More than 285 million people have been infected by the coronavirus worldwide since late 2019 and more than 5 million have died. In the United States, officials took a mixed approach to the year-end revelry: nixing the audience at a countdown concert in Los Angeles, scaling it back in New York yet going full speed ahead in Las Vegas, where 300,000 people were expected for a fireworks show on the strip. In New York, officials planned to allow just 15,000 people — vaccinated and masked — inside the perimeter around Times Square, a sliver of the 1 million people that typically squeeze into midtown to watch the famed ball drop. Outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, defending the event, said people need to see that New York is open for business. Yet by Thursday, rapper LL Cool J had dropped out of the New York telecast after a positive Covid-19 test, “The Music Man” was shuttered on Broadway after lead actor Hugh Jackman tested positive, and restaurant owners battered by staffing shortages and omicron cancellations throughout the holiday season struggled to stay open. “I’m really scared for our industry,” said restaurateur David Rabin, a partner in the Temple Bar, Skylark and other city venues who watched reservations and party bookings disappear this month. “No one made any money in December. The fact they may have a good night tonight, it has no impact.” Airlines were also struggling as the year came to a close, cancelling thousands of flights after the virus struck flight crews and other personnel. Bad weather was also to blame at times. The pandemic game-changer of 2021 — vaccinations — continued apace. Pakistan said it had fully vaccinated 70 million of its 220 million people this year and Britain said it met its goal of offering a vaccine booster shot to all adults by Friday. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin mourned the dead, praised Russians for their strength in difficult times and soberly warned that the pandemic “isn’t retreating yet.” Russia’s virus task force has reported 308,860 Covid-19 deaths but its state statistics agency says the death toll has been more than double that. “I would like to express words of sincere support to all those who lost their dear ones,” Putin said in a televised address broadcast just before midnight in each of Russia’s 11 time zones. Meanwhile, in London, you would normally expect to see Waterloo Bridge and Embankment crammed full of revellers enjoying a bit of Auld Lang Syne and the spectacular firework display the capital has become accustomed to. Not tonight though. For the second year in a row, there is a much more muted atmosphere in London on New Year’s Eve. Having said that, the London Eye still looks dazzling in purple tonight. Here are some of the latest images of New Year’s Eve celebrations from across the globe today. New Year’s Eve celebrations kicked off in the Serbian capital of Belgrade where, unlike elsewhere in Europe, mass gatherings are allowed. Large crowds gathered in the city for outdoor concerts, fireworks and a light show at a newly-constructed Dubai-style glass tower that has become a trademark project by Serbia’s right-wing populist government. The Associated Press reported: With its numerous nightclubs and bars and relatively low prices, Belgrade has become a major attraction for mostly young party-goers coming in from neighbouring Balkan states. Serbia’s state RTS television reported that about 100,000 visitors have flocked to Belgrade for the holidays, filling up the city’s hotels and rented apartments. Restaurants and bars have been packed. Serbian officials have ignored warnings by medical experts who say that mass festivities should be scrapped as long as omicron is racing through the continent. Most European nations have imposed restrictions and banned New Year’s celebrations to contain the virus that has fuelled record numbers of new infections. Serbian epidemiologist Zoran Radovanovic compared state-sponsored gatherings to “premeditated mass murder.” Radovanovic predicted that Serbia will see thousands of new Covid-19 infections after the holidays. In a bid to stave off concerns, Belgrade city authorities provided 50,000 face masks and had rapid virus test sites and disinfection tools at the entrances to fenced-in areas for the New Year’s Eve concerts. But the Covid-19 vaccination passes that are required for bars and restaurants are not mandatory for outdoor events in Serbia. Concerns over the Omicron variant haven’t deterred everyone from going out to enjoy the festivities tonight. It appears, pandemic or no pandemic, people will still insist on wearing those New Year-themed glasses... Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled across Scotland in response to the surging spread of coronavirus, with people urged to stay at home and limit how many people they meet. Scotland’s traditional large-scale Hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled as part of new Covid restrictions announced by Nicola Sturgeon last week, PA Media reported. The First Minister also introduced new curbs on hospitality and urged people to “stay at home as much as possible” until at least the first week of January. New limits on large public gatherings have forced the cancellation of New Year’s Eve street parties, including the one planned for Edinburgh. Hogmanay street parties across Scotland have been cancelled, with crowds at outdoor public events capped at 500 since Boxing Day, for at least three weeks, and numbers at indoor public events limited to 100 standing or 200 seated. Ms Sturgeon said the restrictions were aimed at cutting down transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant and because “large events put an additional burden on emergency services”. Explaining the latest guidance Ms Sturgeon said: Over Hogmanay and New Year’s Day, and for at least the first week in January, we are advising everyone to stay at home more than normal, to reduce contacts with people outside our own households, and to limit the size of any indoor social gatherings that do take place so that they don’t include people from any more than three households. Announcing the restrictions, Ms Sturgeon added: This will, of course, make sports matches, including football, effectively spectator-free over this three-week period. And it will also mean that large-scale Hogmanay celebrations, including that planned here in our capital city, will not proceed. I know how disappointing this will be for those looking forward to these events, and for the organisers of them. They arrived at Bristol Temple Meads train station clutching cans of booze, a change of clothes and this year’s most essential New Year’s Eve accessory – a negative lateral flow test. The closure of nightclubs and restrictions in bars and pubs in Wales was not going to stop a determined band of Welsh fun-seekers hopping across the border for a big night out on the English side of the Severn. “Mark Drakeford [the Welsh first minister] doesn’t want us to have a good time in Cardiff but he can’t stop us coming over here,” said Luke Spear, a 22-year-old bar worker. “Covid has affected young people a lot. I spent my 21st birthday in lockdown. We’re going to have a good time now.” Gabe Mason, 23, a student from Swansea, said he believed the Welsh government had been too cautious. “I think they have panicked, to be honest with you.” Mason was accompanied by a carrier bag filled with cans of lager. He and a group had booked rooms at a budget hotel. “Usually we would go out in Swansea,” he said. “We’ve all been vaccinated and had boosters so we’re not worried.” The Welsh government has been criticised by many in the hospitality industry for bringing in strict rules while the UK government has allowed a pretty normal New Year’s Eve to take place. New York City readied to embrace the new year — and bid good riddance to another pandemic-marred 12 months — as it prepared to revive its annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. It did so as an uneasy nation tried to muster optimism that the worst days of the pandemic are now behind it — even as public health officials warned on Friday against unbridled celebrations amid surging Covid infections from the omicron variant, the Associated Press reported. The city said it would limit the number of people it lets into Times Square to witness a 6-ton ball, encrusted with nearly 2,700 Waterford crystals, descend above a crowd of about 15,000 in-person spectators — far fewer than the many tens of thousands of revellers who usually descend on the world-famous square to bask in the lights, hoopla and shower of confetti during the nation’s marquee New Year’s Eve event. “We are very excited to welcome back visitors to Times Square this New Year’s Eve,” said Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance. “Our goal is to have a safe and responsible event for the world to see.” The annual ball drop takes place Friday, as the clock ticks into midnight and ushers in the new year, an occasion usually commemorated with Champagne, clinking pints, joyous embraces and hopes for better times ahead. But 2022 begins just as the year prior began — with the pandemic clouding an already uncertain future. Doubts swirled whether the city would have to cancel this year’s bash, as the city posted record numbers of Covid cases in the days leading to it, even as some cities like Atlanta had decided to cancel their own celebrations. Last year’s ball drop was closed to the public because of the outbreak. It’s that time during New Year’s Eve when some parts of the world are already ringing in 2022, while the rest of us wait for midnight. In the meantime, take a look at some of the best images of celebrations around the world so far here. Kevin Rawlinson The UK has experienced its hottest New Year’s Eve on record, with temperatures reaching more than 15C (59F) and customers being turned away from ice rinks that had melted. The record was broken twice in one day, with the Met Office recording 14.9C at 11am on Friday in Ryehill, in East Yorkshire, and 15.3C about an hour later in Coningsby, in Lincolnshire. The previous 31 December high was 14.8C, observed in Colwyn Bay in north Wales in 2011. At Somerset House, one of London’s most popular event venues, the unseasonably warm temperature forced the closure of the ice rink attraction on Thursday and Friday, with similar scenes at the ice rink in Hampton Court in Surrey. In Berkshire, some people had New Year’s Eve ice creams, as visitors to Windsor enjoyed the alfresco cafes. The Met office said temperatures would continue to climb across the country later on Friday, before falling slightly at night as the UK rings in 2022. Areas of southern and eastern England, including the West Country, London and Lincolnshire, were expected to experience the warmest weather. Revellers in some parts of the UK will have to brace for rain in the evening, with light drizzle expected across pockets of eastern and southern England and north Wales. However, the overall picture was “exceptionally mild”, with temperatures of 14.5C in Hawarden, north Wales, and 14.2C in Yeovil, Somerset, reported on Friday morning, forecasters said. Evening all. Tom Ambrose here, reporting for duty from London. I’ll be with you for the rest of the evening as we count down to midnight across the world, wherever you may be reading from. Let’s start with some good advice from the UK animal welfare charity Dogs Trust. They have been tweeting top tips on how to keep your dog comfortable when all the fireworks start going off later tonight. Advice includes building a cosy den for your four-legged friend and not forcing them outside. Here is the full list... Meanwhile, the RSPCA has shared some more general advice to pet owners around the world, covering animals of all shapes and sizes, from guinea pigs to horses and everything in between. And it’s not too late to pop out and get hold of some silent fireworks instead, if you don’t mind watching the spectacle without the loud bangs.