New Year’s Eve muted by omicron; many hoping for better 2022

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Good riddance to 2021. Let 2022 bring fresh hope.

That was a common sentiment as people around the world began welcoming in the new year.

In many places, New Year’s Eve celebrations were muted or canceled 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 hospitalizations and deaths as previous outbreaks — especially among vaccinated people — offering a glimmer of hope for 2022.

New Zealand was one of the first places to celebrate the new year with a low-key lights display projected onto Auckland landmarks, including the Sky Tower and Harbor Bridge. That replaced the traditional fireworks show. While there hasn’t yet been any community spread of omicron in New Zealand, authorities still wanted to discourage crowds gathering.

Neighboring Australia, however, was going ahead with its celebrations despite an explosion in virus cases. Some fireworks were let off early in the evening to give younger children a preview of the centerpiece of festivities, the renowned fireworks display from the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

Hours before the celebrations began, Australian health authorities reported a record 32,000 new virus cases, many of them in Sydney. Because of the surge, crowds were far smaller than in pre-pandemic years, when as many as 1 million revelers would crowd inner Sydney.

Because of where the international date line sits, countries in Asia and the Pacific region are among the first to usher in each new year.

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 said vaccinations had made people less anxious about the pandemic, despite the new variant.

“A numbness has set in, and we are no longer overly afraid,” said Matsuzawa, who lives in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. “Some of us are starting to take for granted that it won’t happen to me.”

Like many other people, Matsuzawa hopes that life will improve in 2022.

“I hope the restrictions can disappear,” he said.

Across Japan, many people planned to take new year trips to spend time with their families. On New Year’s Eve, people thronged temples and shrines, most of them wearing masks.

Some appeared to be shrugging off virus fears, however, by dining and drinking raucously in downtown Tokyo and flocking to shops, celebrating not only the holidays but a sense of exhilaration over being freed from recent virus restrictions.

In South Korea’s capital, Seoul, the annual New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony was canceled for the second straight year due to a surge in cases.

Officials said a pre-recorded video of this year’s bell-ringing ceremony would instead be broadcast online and on television. The ceremony had previously drawn tens of thousands of people. Last year’s cancellation was the first since the ceremony began in 1953.

South Korean authorities also planned to close many beaches and other tourist attractions along the east coast, which usually swarm with people hoping to catch the year’s first sunrise. On Friday, South Korea said it will extend tough distancing rules for another two weeks.

In India, millions of people were planning to ring in the new year from their homes, with nighttime curfews and other restrictions taking the fizz out of celebrations in large cities including New Delhi and Mumbai.

Authorities have imposed restrictions to keep revelers away from restaurants, hotels, beaches and bars amid a surge in cases fueled by omicron.

But some places, including Goa, a tourist paradise, and Hyderabad, an information technology hub, have been spared from night curfews thanks to smaller numbers of infections, although other restrictions still apply.

Many Indonesians were also forgoing their usual festivities for a quieter evening at home, after the government banned many New Year’s Eve celebrations. In Jakarta, fireworks displays, parades and other large gatherings were prohibited, while restaurants and malls were allowed to remain open but with curfews imposed.

Vietnam also canceled fireworks shows and celebrations. In Hanoi, authorities closed off central streets, while in Ho Chi Minh City, audiences were banned from watching live countdown performances, which instead were to be shown on social media.

In Hong Kong, about 3,000 people planned to attend a New Year’s Eve concert featuring local celebrities including boy band Mirror. The concert will be the first big New Year’s Eve event held since 2018, after events were canceled in 2019 due to political strife and last year because of the pandemic.

In mainland China, the Shanghai government canceled events including an annual light show along the Huangpu River in the city center that usually draws hundreds of thousands of spectators.

There were no plans for public festivities in Beijing, where popular temples have been closed or had limited access since mid-December. The government has called on people to avoid leaving the Chinese capital if possible and requires tests for travelers arriving from areas where there are infections.

Popular temples in the eastern Chinese cities of Nanjing, Hangzhou and other major cities canceled traditional New Year’s Eve “lucky bell-ringing” ceremonies and asked the public to stay away.

But in Thailand, authorities were allowing New Year’s Eve parties and fireworks displays to continue, albeit with strict safety measures. They were hoping to slow the spread of the omicron variant while also softening the blow to the country’s battered tourism sector. New Year’s Eve prayers, which are usually held in Buddhist temples around Thailand, will be held online instead.

In the Philippines, a powerful typhoon two weeks ago wiped out basic necessities for tens of thousands of people ahead of New Year’s Eve. More than 400 were killed by Typhoon Rai and at least 82 remain missing. Half a million homes were damaged or destroyed.

Leahmer Singson, a 17-year-old mother, lost her home to a fire last month, and then the typhoon blew away her temporary wooden shack in Cebu city. She will welcome the new year with her husband, who works in a glass and aluminum factory, and her 1-year-old baby in a ramshackle tent in a coastal clearing where hundreds of other families erected small tents from debris, rice sacks and tarpaulins to shield themselves from the rain and sun.

Asked what she wants for the new year, Singson had a simple wish: “I hope we won’t get sick.”

Associated Press reporters Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo; Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia; Hau Dinh in Hanoi, Vietnam; Zen Soo in Hong Kong; Tassanee Vejpongsa in Bangkok; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; and AP researcher Chen Si in Shanghai contributed to this report.

-Associated Press 

Fixing media noche? Check food labels

If you’re doing some last-minute grocery shopping for New Year’s Eve, it pays to check food labels meticulously, ensuring that the packaging and seal of the food items are intact and they were are stored in a clean environment.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday offered these tips to merrymakers to avoid stomach troubles and other health problems caused by feasting on compromised or adulterated food products.

“This Christmas and New Year, there is high demand for food products as Filipino families traditionally celebrate through preparation of meals for festivities,” said FDA officer in charge Director General Maria Lourdes Santiago in an advisory.

Basic consumer tips
“Unwary consumers might succumb to unscrupulous food business operators selling compromised, improperly handled and stored, misbranded and adulterated food products,” she warned.

Santiago said the FDA had prepared basic consumer tips on buying food products for the holidays to avoid eating unsafe food.

Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) said festivities during the holiday season could spawn food poisoning incidents if the food is not handled properly.

The Southeast Asian region, including the Philippines, has the second highest incidence of food-borne illnesses next to Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It registers 150 million cases and 175,000 deaths annually, it said.

Most of these cases are caused by non-typhoidal salmonella, E. coli and pork tapeworm, said the WHO.

Storage condition

In checking food labels, one must pay attention to the following information: brand and product name, net content or weight, list of ingredients, name of manufacturer/repacker/distributor/

importer, expiry date, lot identification code and nutrition information.

One must also check the food item’s storage condition, especially for those needing storage beyond the normal room temperature, food allergen information (such as nuts, milk and crustaceans) and direction for use.

Tampered label details, like scratched out information and a new expiry date pasted over the original one, should be considered red flags, the FDA warned.

To ensure that food items are still safe for eating, the FDA said soft packaging materials like plastic, foil and aluminum wrap must not have tears or perforations.  Metal bottle caps must be rust-free  while glass bottles should be crack-free.

It advised consumers not to buy canned goods that are dented, bulging and rusting.

“Food products must at all times be sold under optimal hygienic conditions [such that] the probability of cross-contamination from biological, chemical and microbial hazards must be reduced, minimized and eliminated,” the FDA said.



Cross-contamination

Frozen and refrigerated products must be kept frozen or stored in a refrigerator while perishable products should be kept away from non-perishables to prevent cross-contamination, it noted.

Consumers were also advised against buying food sold in a dirty environment or in areas infested by rodents, insects and other pests.

“Consumers are advised to be more vigilant and conscious in buying food products in the market to avoid health and safety issues,” the FDA said.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

New Year’s in Times Square is endurance contest

NEW YORK  — Crowds jammed New York’s Times Square on Tuesday to ring in 2014, braving bone-chilling cold and ultra-tight security for the chance to see Miley Cyrus, a final countdown from a U.S. Supreme Court justice and the drop of the shimmering crystal ball.

The sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing humanity that filled the Crossroads of the World was part celebration, part endurance sport because post-Sept. 11 security measures force spectators into pens at least 12 hours in advance, with no food, no warmth and no place to go to the bathroom.

“We’ve got adult diapers. We’re wearing them right now,” said 14-year-old Amber Woods, who came with friends from the New York City’s suburbs to experience the event for the first time. They entered their corral at 10 a.m. For nourishment, they brought lollipops and popcorn. For the cold, they did a lot of jumping in place.

“Every time I say, it’s the last. But then I come back,” said Yasmina Merrir, a 42-year-old Washington, D.C., resident attending her fourth Times Square ball drop. In 2009, the cold was so bad, she got hypothermia. Her legs swelled up like balloons.

She was also fasting and not drinking anything to deal with the lack of restrooms. As for the cold, she recommends vigorous dancing for as long as you can stand on your feet.

“At a point,” she said, “your brain is not working anymore.”

New York’s midnight celebration came as millions welcomed the new year in cities around the world, including jubilant events in London, where the fireworks came packed with edible confetti, and Dubai, which attempted to stage the world’s largest fireworks display.

Brianna Becerril, a 21-year-old singer and songwriter from Chino, Calif., persuaded her grandparents to join her at Times Square. As evening fell, they huddled together for warmth under big, furry hats, dined on cold chicken nuggets and drank nothing so they wouldn’t have to leave to find a toilet.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience!” Becerril said.

“Once in a lifetime for me, for sure. I mean, if I even survive. I can’t wait to get out of here,” said her smiling grandfather, Jerry Bender. But, he said, he was enjoying getting to know their neighbors in the pen, many of whom hailed from distant countries.

Even when she lived in Algeria in North Africa, Merrir said, she knew that Times Square was the place the world celebrated best on New Year’s Eve.

“It’s Times Square! It’s the ball!” she said. “The fireworks may be better in Dubai, or in London, but this is extra special.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain welcomed 2014 with a mixture of futuristic fireworks and torch-lit tradition. For those in London, the event offered the opportunity to taste the fireworks.

The city’s mayor — in conjunction with telecommunications company Vodafone — said this year’s explosive display came packed with peach-flavored snow, edible banana confetti and orange-scented bubbles. The evening also included scratch-and-sniff programs, LED wristbands and fruit-flavored sweets.

In Dubai, a Persian Gulf city known for glitz, glamour and over-the-top achievements like the world’s tallest skyscraper, officials sought to break another record by creating the largest fireworks show.

The Dubai skyline was a canvas for a dazzling 30-minute show. The display capped off with six minutes of fireworks that engulfed the city’s man-made, palm-shaped island, with its fronds and trunk shimmering in thousands of lights.

Organizers had promised that the fireworks would form a flying falcon, a sunrise and the United Arab Emirates flag. It was not immediately clear if the promised designs or world record had been achieved.

The effort attempted to surpass the current world record held by another Gulf Arab state in just the first 60 seconds. Kuwait has held the record since last year, when it fired more than 77,000 fireworks in a display lasting more than an hour.

Guinness World Record officials were on hand to measure the scale of Dubai’s event, which needed to be longer than five minutes to qualify.

More than 260 people were injured by firecracker blasts and celebratory gunfire in the Philippines, a nation marking the end of a year of tragic disasters, including a Nov. 8 typhoon that left more than 6,100 dead and nearly 1,800 missing.

“Many here are welcoming the new year after losing their mothers, fathers, siblings and children so you can imagine how it feels,” said village chief Maria Rosario Bactol of Anibong community in Tacloban, the city worst hit by Typhoon Haiyan. “I tell them to face the reality, to move on and stand up, but I know it will never be easy.”

Back in New York, outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who hobnobbed with celebrities during past Times Square celebrations, was sitting out this year’s festivities to spend time with family and friends. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio was to be sworn in at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at his Brooklyn home.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a New York City native, will lead the final 60-second countdown and push the ceremonial button to drop the ball.

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Tacloban to get front-seat view of fireworks show on New Year’s eve

SAN RAFAEL, Bulacan—On New Year’s Eve, Tacloban City will have a front-seat view of a dazzling light show, courtesy of one of Bulacan’s top fireworks companies.

Dragon Fireworks Inc., which operates a factory here, is shouldering the cost and production of a light show for typhoon-devastated Tacloban residents on Dec. 31.

Joven Ong, Dragon Fireworks president, said the 15-minute fireworks display would rise above the Tacloban City Hall and would be visible even to residents living two kilometers away.

Ong said the company shipped equipment and pyrotechnic products to the city on Sunday. A team of fireworks technicians has also left for Tacloban, he added.

Dragon Fireworks is the first Asian fireworks company to defeat other pyrotechnic firms in the world in the 2013 Pyronale Fireworks World Championships, an annual competition held in Germany in September.

Tacloban officials had requested Ong to put up the light show, heeding a Dec. 7 offer made by leaders of the Bulacan fireworks industry to provide free fireworks to communities struck hard by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November.

The offer had a catch: Bulacan’s businessmen wanted the stricken communities to request for the fireworks because of fears that a fireworks show would be labeled inappropriate.

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez sought out former Bulacan Rep. Lorna Silverio, also this town’s former mayor, who helped facilitate the free show.

“Of course, we were considering how the tragedy may have impacted on the Visayas, and many residents there may be grieving. As much as we wanted to initiate the light show ourselves, we did not want to be told that the survivors need food, shelter and clothing more than a fireworks display,” Ong said on Monday.

“But now that they urged us to bring the fireworks to them, we gladly did this. We really want to make their New Year happier,” he said.

Tacloban, however, may not be provided the same light show Dragon Fireworks put together in September in Berlin.

The company’s winning entry was a 15-minute pyro-musical performance that featured famous Filipino folk and popular songs, like “Piliin Mo Ang Pilipinas” by Angeline Quinto, “Tanging Yaman” by Carol Banawa and a tune accompanying the folk dance “tinikling.”

“I spoke to Tacloban officials and they told me the light show would be seen by many residents because [Supertyphoon Yolanda] had flattened trees and structures in the city,” giving them a clear view of the fireworks display, Ong said.

He said the company also promised to build school buildings in the city, after discussing the proposal with local officials as well as with former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was appointed by President Aquino as chief coordinator of rehabilitation efforts in typhoon-stricken areas in the Visayas.

Ong said the project would be completed in time for the June opening of classes.

Fireworks manufacturing is a leading trade in Bulacan, which has seen rising sales on the days leading to the New Year revelry.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Firecracker sales booming

BLASTS BAD FOR PETS. Pet owners and environmentalists take part in a campaign by EcoWaste Coalition and animal welfare groups to remind the public that loud explosions during New Year revelries are harmful to animals like dogs, which have an acute sense of hearing. ALEXIS CORPUZ

The sale of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic products in Bocaue, Bulacan, the country’s fireworks capital, has picked up a few days before the New Year, pushing prices up by 40 to 60 percent.

The booming business coincided with more Filipinos using firecrackers and the rising number of fireworks-related injuries nationwide, mostly from “piccolo,” an illegal firecracker.

Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag has noted that firecracker use among Filipinos this year is up from 2012.

The injuries were not only from firecrackers but also from stray bullets.

In Nueva Ecija, Alieya Sto. Domingo, 6, survived after a .45-cal. bullet hit her in the head as she sat on a bench in Barangay (village) Bertese in Quezon town at 11 a.m. on Dec. 27.

Sto. Domingo was taken to a hospital in Cabanatuan City where she was declared out of danger.

Amid the rising cases of injuries, Malacañang on Sunday asked the public to heed the Department of Health’s warning to stay away from firecrackers in welcoming the new year.

“The government again appeals to all our people to follow the Department of Health’s reminder against the use of harmful firecrackers to ensure a safe and peaceful welcome to the new year 2014,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in Filipino in his weekly media briefing aired over Radyo ng Bayan.

Alternative noisemakers

The Palace earlier urged parents and guardians to promote the use of alternative noisemakers, such as toy trumpets and sound systems.

“Children should not be allowed to handle [firecrackers]. We can prevent injuries,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte earlier quoted Health Secretary Enrique Ona as saying.

The Department of Health (DOH) warning may have fallen on deaf ears.

Heavy traffic has beset Bocaue’s “pyro zone,” the designated area for firecracker stalls in Barangay Turo, as motorists drive in from MacArthur Highway to buy firework products.

Brisk sales

Sales have been brisk since Friday, said Linda de Guzman, an employee of Jay-R Fireworks Store, which opened a stall in the country’s fireworks capital.

“Sales pick up right after Christmas, which has been the trend year after year,” De Guzman said.

The increased demand this holiday season prompted traders to raise prices.

Skyrockets, or “kwitis,” sell for as high as P350, up 40 percent from P250, for a bundle of 100 pieces.

People buy 1,000 pieces of firecrackers (called “sawa,” or snake) for P350 to P400, up 40 to 60 percent from the usual P250.

Dancing dragon, which traders described as child-friendly, sells for P25 each.

‘Different high’

Francisco Castillo of Pangasinan province drove to the pyro zone at 3 a.m. on Saturday. Castillo said he spent as much as P20,000 on firecrackers and pyrotechnic products.

“The family contributes to buy our supply. My children already work and it’s a different high when we celebrate the New Year with fireworks,” he said.

Even before New Year’s Eve, people have been playing with firecrackers, resulting in injuries.

Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Center, said the number of people injured because of firecrackers had shot up to 198 as of Sunday 6 a.m. from the 179 recorded in the same period last year.

Of the total number of injuries, 62 percent was caused by “piccolo,” an illegal firecracker.

Stray bullets

Five were injured by stray bullets and one was hospitalized after ingesting a firecracker, Tayag said in his twitter account @erictayagSays.

In Metro Manila, among the top three cities that have the biggest number of injuries caused by piccolo are Manila, Quezon City and Mandaluyong, according to Tayag.

The DOH said 88 percent of those injured were males while 32 percent were children below 10 years old.

In Central Luzon, at least 65 people have been injured by firecracker blasts as of Dec. 28, according to the DOH.

A 44-year-old woman from Tarlac province and a six-year-old girl from Nueva Ecija were wounded when they were hit by stray bullets.

DOH Central Luzon data showed that Bataan recorded the highest number of blast victims at 19, followed by Bulacan (13); Pampanga (14); Tarlac (11); Nueva Ecija (4); Aurora (3); and Zambales (1).

In the Cordillera region, government doctors recorded 10 cases of injuries attributed to firecracker blasts as of Dec. 28. One victim was a two-year-old.

Hospitals all set

Coloma said around 1,800 hospitals nationwide, including 721 facilities under the DOH, were all set to deal with the expected injuries from New Year’s Eve revelries.

The Philippine National Police has been placed on heightened alert “to intensify patrol in populated areas,” such as churches, transport terminals and shopping malls.

As part of safety measures against indiscriminate firing, Coloma said the PNP leadership had begun sealing the muzzles of service firearms issued to its 148,000-strong force.

“At the end of the [New Year’s] celebration, precinct chiefs will again inspect the firearms to see if anyone among their men violated the policy [against indiscriminate firing],” Coloma said.

Chief Supt. Isagani Nerez, Cordillera police director, did not require the police personnel to tape the muzzle of their guns with tape, which he described as an impractical and ceremonial gesture when he spoke to city police officials on Dec. 23.

Instead, Nerez asked the police to conduct an inventory of PNP-issued firearms and ammunition, and to monitor their use throughout the holidays.

Nerez, however, directed the Baguio police to enforce Mayor Mauricio Domogan’s ban on firework sales.

Director General Alan Purisima, the PNP chief, directed lawmen to be vigilant against illegal firecrackers.

Purisima on Saturday inspected two major trading areas for firecrackers and pyrotechnic products in Bocaue.

Raids

The Bulacan police said officials had made certain that no illicit products would get out of the province’s firework manufacturing centers.

Senior Supt. Joel Orduna, Bulacan police director, said the police had undertaken several raids on illegal pyrotechnic manufacturers in Bocaue, Sta. Maria, San Miguel and Baliwag towns, and arrested 11 suspects.

Seized in a recent police operation in Sitio (settlement) Daang Riles in Barangay Bundukan, Bocaue, were large quantities of chemicals and unlicensed firecrackers and pyrotechnic products, he said.—With reports from Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Armand Galang and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Christian V. Esguerra

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net