Hello, 2021!
The local government of Quezon City ushers in the new year with a fireworks display at the Quezon Memorial Circle on Friday, New Year's Day. A small crowd of passersby stops and watches the display, as they cheer and welcome 2021. Jire Carreon, ABS-CBN News
Jones Bridge lights up for the new year
The City of Manila welcomes the new year with a dazzling fireworks show along Jones Bridge on Friday. Aside from the Jones Bridge, a fireworks display was also held at the Intramuros Golf Course. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
Finding hope in the rising sun
A couple watches the sunrise on New Year's Day at a seaside park in Tokyo on Friday. It is a Japanese cultural tradition to watch the year’s first sunrise called “hatsuhinode” to bring good luck, better well-being and good health. Kazuhiro Nogi, AFP
New Year in a pandemic: Eerily empty Times Square
An empty street is seen in Times Square during the virtual New Year's Eve event following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, USA. For the first time in 114 years, revelers were not allowed in New York's Times Square for the New Year celebration amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Jeenah Moon, Reuters
Welcoming 2021 in the birthplace of COVID-19
People wearing face masks release balloons during a New Year's countdown in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on Friday. Wuhan, where cases of “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were first detected, has slowly reopened since September 2020 after months of strict lockdown in January 2020. Noel Celis, AFP
Thousands of devotees attend First Friday Mass in Quiapo
Devotees of the Black Nazarene flock to Quiapo Church for the First Friday and Novena Mass of the year, days ahead of the annual commemoration of the Traslacion. The local government of Manila ordered the cancellation of the annual Traslacion in an attempt to prevent spread of COVID-19, where millions of devotees attend the procession. Quiapo Church Parochial Vicar Fr. Douglas Badong announced that additional Masses will be celebrated on January 9 to accommodate more devotees who wish to honor the Black Nazarene. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News
