Fireworks explode over deserted streets as 2020 slinks off into history

A woman sells a 2021 decoration at a popular entertainment street on New Year's Eve during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand December 31, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

(Reuters) - Blue and gold fireworks soared into the sky above the Sydney Opera House as they do every New Year's Eve, but the harbour below was a deserted ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed.

No light show was to illuminate Beijing from the top of the TV tower. The lions of London's Trafalgar Square were barricaded off, as was Red Square in Moscow and Madrid's Puerta del Sol. In Rome, crowds would not assemble in St Peter's, the Pope would lead no Mass, and revelers would not make their yearly dive into the Tiber.