Omicron’s New Years cocktail: Sorrow, fear but hope for 2022

By JOHN LEICESTER and NICK PERRY
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Beset by the fast-spreading omicron variant, the world ushered in 2022 with a bittersweet cocktail of sorrow for the dead and dying, fear of more infections, and hope for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. In many places, celebrations were muted or canceled for a second straight year. New Zealand bid good riddance to 2021 with a low-key lights display projected onto Auckland landmarks. Australia went ahead with celebrations including the iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House fireworks, despite a surge in cases. In France, a doctor sighed when asked what 2022 might bring. He said medical workers were exhausted “because the waves come one after another.” In London, officials said coronavirus may have infected as many as 1 in 15 people in the week before Christmas.