Health-care workers celebrate the new year in the intensive-care unit at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome.
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New Year's celebrations around the world

Updated 0603 GMT (1403 HKT) January 1, 2021

Health-care workers celebrate the new year in the intensive-care unit at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome.
Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

We can finally say goodbye to 2020, a messy, tragic year.

But because of the coronavirus pandemic, there weren't many of the mass celebrations we're used to seeing. Many cities even canceled their fireworks shows.

Here's how people around the world rang in the new year.

Confetti falls on a mostly empty Times Square in New York. This year, a limited live audience of first responders and essential workers and their families were allowed to watch the ball drop from a secure area.
Corey Sipkin/AFP/Getty Images
A New Year's Eve memorial is held in Johannesburg for victims of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Joao Silva/The New York Times/Redux
Hotel guests in Paris welcome 2021 near the Eiffel Tower. New Year's Eve fireworks were canceled throughout France, and an 8 p.m. curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
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