People gather in Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebrations in New York.
Jeenah Moon/AP

New Year's celebrations around the world

Updated 2:21 AM ET, Sat January 1, 2022

People gather in Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebrations in New York.
Jeenah Moon/AP

With the rapid spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, many cities across the world scaled back their New Year's celebrations.

In New York City, for example, the traditional event in Times Square allowed fewer revelers and everyone was required to wear a mask.

Some major cities canceled their events altogether, while others moved forward with their plans.

A man celebrates the start of the new year on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bruna Prado/AP
Nurses at a hospital in Marseille, France, enjoy a New Year's cake while taking a break in a Covid-19 intensive care unit.
Daniel Cole/AP
People observe candles lit to bring luck in the upcoming New Year at the Hasedera Buddhist temple in Kamakura, Japan, south of Tokyo.
Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Revelers celebrate in New York's Times Square.
Craig Ruttle/AP
People watch the light show by St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge in London.
Matt Dunham/AP
People gather to welcome the new year in Chongqing, China.
Li Xiaoxiang/VCG/Getty Images
People gather for celebrations in Belgrade, Serbia.
Darko Vojinovic/AP
People celebrate on the Champs-Elysées Avenue in Paris. The city canceled its traditional fireworks display.
Thibault Camus/AP
People dressed for New Year's Eve ride a bus in Las Vegas.
L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP
A man holds a flare while celebrating in Krakow, Poland.
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images