The Chinese city of Wuhan – once the world’s epicenter of the COIVD-19 outbreak – saw large crowds take to the streets to ring in the New Year.
Photos from the festivities show some revelers wearing masks and taking little to no social distance as they released balloons in the air at the Hankow Customs House building – a popular New Year’s Eve spot in Wuhan, according to Reuters.
Police tried to control the throngs and even urged people without masks to put one on if they wanted to continue the party, the outlet reported.
The festivities come a year after the World Health Organization said it first received a warning about a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan – which later resulted in the world’s first coronavirus outbreak.
WHO experts are expected to meet in China in January to investigate where the virus first originated.
Some countries, such as France and Spain, ushered in the New Year with a curfew for the public. In Australia and New Zealand, people celebrated 2021 as they normally would before the pandemic.
Back in New York, Times Square was a ghost town where police closed the area as people prepared to see the famous ball drop from home.