The Christmas holidays will be one of the saddest for many this year, with millions of people having to cancel plans or curtail celebrations this Thursday due to restrictions imposed in many countries to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 1.7 million people around the world, and the sources of infections that keep popping up are a reminder that, despite the advent of the first vaccines, life is not going to return to normal all that soon.
Australia, cited several times this year as an example of good health management, is currently experiencing a spike in the number of cases in north Sydney, a city whose residents can invite only ten adults to their homes for holidays. And only five, if they live in “the epicenter” of the source of contamination.
Jimmy Arslan, owner of two cafes in the hardest hit neighborhoods, saw his sales drop by 75%. And he will not be able to count on the presence of his family, as they live in Canberra and cannot travel for Christmas.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he admits. “It’s a sad end to a sad year,” he adds.
“We have to greet 2021 and kick 2020”, this 46-year-old jokes.
– “Destroy the crown” –
Most of Europe, meanwhile, is facing one of the saddest winters, with epidemics resurrecting in several countries.
Germany had to cancel its famous Christmas markets and Pope Francis decided to bring the midnight mass at the Vatican forward by two hours to comply with restrictions in Italy.
In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ according to Christians, there will be no mass with an audience, nor a procession of Palestinian leaders, with President Mahmoud Abas as the finishing touch, but a Christmas with the only presence of the clergy and it will be broadcast all over the world.
The last days before Christmas, the Santa Catalina Chapel, adjacent to the Basilica of the Nativity, was reopened to the locals.
“We hope that the Lord will destroy the crown and that we can get our old life back,” explains Nicolas al Zoghbi, a man who says he is “over 70”.
But for many, Christmas will be synonymous with isolation, as it has for most of this year.
In the Philippines, some chose to spend the vacation alone because of the risk of contracting the virus on public transportation.
– Christmas in Dover-
“I’m going to order food, watch old movies again and have a video call with my family,” said Kim Patria, 31, who lives alone in Manila.
On the other hand, thousands of European truck drivers are preparing to spend Christmas Eve in precarious conditions, blocked around the port of Dover, in the UK, which is slowly emerging from the isolation in its territory that the emergence of a new strain of the coronavirus caused.
“Everyone says we should come and wait, but we don’t want to wait!” A Polish driver, Ezdrasz Szwaja, complained Wednesday at the ex-Manston airport, where the British government will test thousands of COVID-19 detections. truck drivers.
“They say there is a covid test coming for us,” but “there is nothing,” “we have no information, nothing,” he added visibly excitedly. “I have two children, one woman, I just want to go there”, to Poland.
New Year’s celebrations are also not going to shine as brightly as usual.
Faced with the pandemic recovery in Brazil (the second most grieving country in the world with nearly 190,000 dead, after the United States), the mayor of Rio de Janeiro banned access to the famed beach area on December 31. Copacabana, to avoid the New Years Eve crowds.
Usually, millions of people gather on this beach to admire the fireworks from the traditional New Year’s Eve celebration, the cancellation of which was announced in July.
For now, Sydney still plans to greet 2021 with its famous fireworks display. New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian promised that the seven-minute show will take place “come what may”.