[WATCH] A hopeful world ushers in 2021

Ravaged by a global pandemic that brought lives and countries to a standstill, many will gladly delete 2020 from their memories and hope the new year will be different

31 December 2020, 11:49am
by Kurt Sansone

1 min read

The world will usher in 2021 with subdued new year's eve celebrations

The pacific island nation of Tonga is among the first countries to usher in 2021 as worldwide celebrations will be subdued because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The fireworks display on Sydney Harbour in Australia will take place but restrictive measures have been put in place to limit crowds.

Similar measures are in place everywhere else. In Malta, there will be no public celebrations but a closed event taking place at Fort St Elmo will be televised and localities in the northern region will be letting off fireworks.

As the new year slowly rolls over, 2021 will be greeted with a sense of trepidation and hope.

It will start much the same way 2020 ended – face masks, social distancing, lockdowns, closure of entertainment outlets, grim news telling us how many new COVID-19 infections there are and deaths from the virus.

But there will be hope that as the coronavirus vaccines start reaching more and more people, the world could start to emerge from the grip of the pandemic.

Until that point is reached, 2021 will start off on a cautionary note.

MaltaToday wishes its readers and critics a happy new year.

Watch live from Sydney:

Kurt Sansone is Executive Editor of MaltaToday. He was formerly deputy editor of MaltaTod...