Good riddance to 2021. Let 2022 bring fresh hope.
That was a common sentiment Friday as people around the world got ready to welcome in the new year.
In many places, plans for New Year’s Eve celebrations were muted or cancelled for the second straight year due to a surge of coronavirus infections, this time driven by the highly contagious omicron variant.
Even before omicron hit, many people were happy to say goodbye to a second grinding year of the pandemic.
But so far, at least, the omicron surge hasn’t resulted in the same levels of hospitalisations and deaths as previous outbreaks especially among vaccinated people offering a glimmer of hope for 2022.
In Japan, writer Naoki Matsuzawa said he would spend the next few days cooking and delivering food to the elderly because some stores would be closed. He…
