New Year's Eve celebrations around the world have been called off as the coronavirus pandemic casts gloom over festivities for a second year.

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Global coronavirus infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, with an average of just over one million cases detected a day worldwide between Dec. 24 and 30, some 100,000 up on the previous peak posted on Wednesday, according to Reuters data.

In Israel, police on Friday announced they had finalized preparations for New Year's Eve, with officers ordered to enforce green pass restrictions in businesses put in place to keep the Omicron variant in check. The Israel Police noted both covert and overt operational activity in the field of business licensing had also been ramped up in recent days.

Beginning Friday night and continuing throughout the weekend, thousands of police officers and volunteers are set to be dispatched at major traffic arteries, entertainment venues, and other places expected to see mass crowding across the country. Checkpoints will be set up, and officers will act to remove those who pose a threat to others from the road.

Police will act to ensure revelers remain safe, enforcing law and order. Special emphasis will be given to life-threatening traffic violations, road rage incidents, and drunk driving.

In a statement, the Israel Police said New Year's Eve was typically characterized by heavy traffic on the roads as revelers make their way to and from events. 

"The combination of drinking alcohol and driving constitutes a genuine threat to people's lives and is a significant cause of fatal traffic accidents. The Israel Police will act to enforce the law against such drivers with the aim of preventing the next accident and so that everyone can return home safely," according to the statement.

As a reminder, mask-wearing is mandatory in all closed and non-residential places and in outdoor gatherings of 50 or more individuals.

Businesses must adhere to current green pass restrictions.

Those caught violating quarantine will be fined and may result in the opening of a criminal investigation. 

Gloomy New Year's expected for many around the world

With numerous countries registering all-time highs, authorities in many places have called off celebrations to welcome in 2022, fearful that the Omicron variant will take advantage of gatherings to spread even faster.

Australia, however, was determined to ring in 2022 with a bang despite surges in infections to record levels in some places.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison told people to "enjoy the evening," while Dominic Perrottet, premier of New South Wales state, urged everyone to "head out and enjoy New Year's" even as daily infections in the state nearly doubled to a record 21,151.

Perrottet said he took heart from higher levels of vaccination and the fact that hospitals were coping with the Omicron wave.

"Our position remains incredibly strong," he told reporters.

Social distancing rules are in place and masks are required indoors in Sydney but thousands of people are expected to flock to its harbourside to watch New Year fireworks, with queues forming at many vantage points from early in the morning.

Secretive North Korea also appeared to be preparing to buck the trend and celebrate the New Year with midnight fireworks at Kim Il Sung Square in its capital, Pyongyang.

Commercial satellite imagery showed preparations were underway with a stage being installed in the square, according to NK News, a Seoul-based website that monitors North Korea.

The Rodong Sinmun state-run newspaper ran photographs of flower shops in Pyongyang crowded with mask-wearing customers buying blooms for the celebrations.

North Korea sealed its borders after the pandemic began and has not reported a single case of COVID-19.

Over the border in South Korea, the mood was not so festive.

A traditional midnight bell-ringing ceremony has been canceled for the second year and authorities announced an extension of stricter distancing rules for two weeks to tackle a persistent surge in Infections.

China, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, was on high alert against the virus, with the city of Xian under lockdown and New Year events in other cities canceled and authorities urging restraint.

Authorities in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, will close 11 roads that usually draw big crowds for New Year's Eve, police said, while Malaysia has banned large gatherings nationwide and canceled a fireworks display at the Petronas Twin Towers in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took to his official YouTube channel to urge people to wear masks at parties and limit the number of people attending, while Tokyo's famous Shibuya entertainment district has banned year-end parties.

New Zealand, famous for its success in keeping the virus at bay, will see some celebrations. Its biggest city, Auckland, eased restrictions this week to let people enjoy some song and dance.

Taiwan, another coronavirus mitigation success, will hold a pop concert in front of city hall in the capital, Taipei, and with midnight fireworks lighting up Taipei 101, which was briefly the world's tallest building. Those attending the concert will have to wear masks, register their names, and will only be allowed to drink water.

Indian authorities began to impose stringent rules on Thursday to prevent large gatherings with night curfews in all major cities and restaurants in effect to limit customers.

Despite the curbs, domestic tourists have been flocking to the famous beaches, bars, and nightclubs of Goa on the country's western coast to ring in the New Year.

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Blue and gold fireworks soared into the sky above the Sydney Opera House as they do every year, but the harbor below was a ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed.

No light show will illuminate Beijing from the top of the TV tower. The lions of London's Trafalgar Square will be barricaded off, as will the Red Square in Moscow. In Rome, crowds will not assemble in St Peter's Square, the Pope will lead no Mass, and revelers will not make their yearly dive into the Tiber.

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The New Year's Eve ball was to drop on Broadway. But in place of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers packed shoulder-to-shoulder into Times Square, the audience will be a small pre-selected group of nurses, doctors and other key workers, their families kept six feet apart in socially distanced pens.

With more than 1.7 million people dead and 82 million infected around the globe since last New Year's Eve this year's end is like none other in memory.

"I think I am not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy," said Angela Merkel, in her 16th New Year's Eve address as German chancellor. "And never have we, despite all the worries and some skepticism, looked forward to the new one with so much hope.

Germany has banned the sale of fireworks to discourage crowds. Authorities in Berlin said police would "punish violators consistently".

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic originated a year ago, thousands were expected to gather at popular landmarks across the city center for the countdown to 2021. Some said they were being cautious, but weren't particularly worried.

In Australia, where the Sydney Opera House fireworks are televised around the world as the first big visual display of the New Year, movement has been restricted, gatherings banned and internal borders shut. Most people were barred from coming to Sydney's downtown on Thursday night.

"What a hell of a year it's been," said Gladys Berejiklian from Australia. "Hopefully 2021 will be easier on all of us."

In Madrid's usually teeming Puerta del Sol square, there will be no screaming revelers delightedly stuffing grapes into their mouths - one for every stroke of midnight, according to tradition. Spain's midnight curfew has been extended to 1:30 am for the night, but most people are expected to stay at home.

In Britain, where a highly contagious variant of the virus is rampaging and most people are under strict restrictions, official billboards instruct the public to "see in the New Year safely at home". Barriers were erected in public places such as London's Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square.

Russian authorities stopped people gathering on Red Square. Bars and restaurants were to shut before midnight, but firework displays would go ahead.

In Italy, bars, restaurants and most shops were closed, and a curfew imposed for New Year's Eve at 10 pm. Pope Francis canceled plans to lead New Year's Eve and New Year's Day services because of a flare-up of his sciatica condition, the Vatican said.

In France, where a night curfew will also be in force, no more than six adults are allowed to gather around the dinner table.

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The post Fireworks explode over empty streets as 2020 slinks away into history appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel Hayom's English newsdesk decided to compile a short summary of the most important things that happened this decade, broken down to subject matters ranging from space and archaeology to innovation and defense, as well as key political moments in Israel.

Here it is:

1. Top 5 Israeli innovations of the past decade
2. The most significant developments in defense this decade
3. The top 5 moments in sports from the past decade
4. The top 5 archaeological moments of the decade
5. Israel's biggest political bombshells of the decade
6. Top 10 moments in space exploration

The post From space to politics, a wrap-up of the 2010s appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.