25, December 2021
Covid-19 clouds Christmas celebrations for a second year in a row 0
Pope Francis called for more solidarity with those living in poverty as he celebrated mass in Rome in front of a masked congregation of around 2,000 people, while billions around the world again marked Christmas under the shadow of the coronavirus.
An explosion in cases driven by the rise of the Omicron variant has meant a Christmas season tainted by the pandemic for a second year running, with Santa’s arrival and longed-for family reunions overshadowed by the prospect of yet more Covid-19 restrictions.
In St Peter’s Basilica, the 85-year-old Argentine pontiff urged the faithful to “value the little things in life”.
“On this night of love, may we have only one fear: that of offending God’s love, hurting him by despising the poor with our indifference,” said Francis, who later Saturday will give his traditional Urbi et Orbi address and blessing.
About 2,000 members of the public and 200 religious figures attended the Christmas Eve mass, wearing face masks and respecting social distancing as part of measures against the coronavirus.
In Bethlehem’s Manger Square, visitors in Santa hats and scouts beating drums marked Christmas Eve, but numbers were lower than usual as coronavirus fears overshadowed celebrations for a second straight year.
The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is usually a focal point of the holiday, with thousands packing the streets and filling hotels.
But Israel, which controls all entrances to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, barred its borders to foreigners in an effort to rein in infections from the Omicron strain of the coronavirus.
“It is a bit surreal,” American student Hudson Harder told AFP.
“There is a selfish part where it’s like ‘Oh I get to see this place so empty’ but on the other hand you feel for the shops, all the money they are losing, it’s really quite tragic.”
Flights cancelled
In his homily for midnight mass celebrated in St Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa said it was however encouraging that celebrations were “certainly more joyful this year”.
“Compared to last year’s Christmas, the participation is much greater and this is an encouraging sign,” he told the masked congregation, but regretted the absence of foreign worshippers due to the pandemic.
In the southern Philippines, standing in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church, Father Ricardo Virtudazo celebrated Christmas Day mass with dozens of devotees who prayed for a better year after the storm killed nearly 400 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
“What’s important is all of us are safe,” said Joy Parera, 31, attending the service with her husband in the town of Alegria on the island of Mindanao.
Another survivor, Marites Sotis, said she would usually serve up meat, spring rolls and salad for Christmas but that her family was struggling after the storm felled most of their coconut trees.
“We won’t have those this year because they cost a lot of money,” Sotis, 53, told AFP. “We’ll make do with spaghetti.”
For the second year, surging infections have complicated yuletide plans from Sydney to Seville.
The new coronavirus strain severely disrupted holiday travel, with tracking website Flightaware.com reporting more than 2,300 flights had been cancelled around the world, hundreds of them in the United States.
Millions of Americans were nevertheless on the move to see loved ones for Christmas, even as Covid infections surpass the peak of the previous wave and hospitals run out of beds.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill visited a children’s hospital for the traditional Christmas book-reading by the first lady.
The couple chatted with patients and doctors, showing one boy a photo of “Commander” — their new puppy — before settling into chairs beside a Christmas tree and reading a book inspired by the Disney movie “Frozen”.
In Europe, governments are reimposing misery-inducing safety measures that are draining the fun from Christmas for many.
The Netherlands is back in lockdown while Spain and Italy have made wearing masks compulsory outdoors.
And with Britain hitting a record high number of Covid-19 infections again on Friday for a third day in a row, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested getting a vaccine booster shot as a Christmas gift for relatives.
‘Ray of light’
Still, Christmas gatherings will be easier than a year ago in many other places around the world.
Most Australians are allowed to travel interstate over the festive break for the first time in two years, with Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher saying that Christmas was “a ray of light” in dark times.
And Santa Claus was not deterred from doing his rounds and been cleared for travel in Canada’s airspace after showing proof of vaccination and a pre-flight negative Covid test, Ottawa’s transport minister said.
According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) Santa-tracking website, Father Christmas had delivered nearly five billion gifts and was flying over Canada at around 0200 GMT.
“He’s been at it for many hours already and will go throughout the evening as well,” said Major General Eric Kenny, commander of the Canadian NORAD region.
Source: AFP
25, December 2021
More than 4,500 flights cancelled or delayed due to Omicron variant 0
Over 4,500 flights were cancelled around the world by Saturday and thousands more were delayed as the highly infectious Omicron variant disrupted holiday travel, according to tracking website Flightaware.
One route, however, was thankfully not affected: Santa was on track delivering presents to children across the globe, air defense officials assured US President Joe Biden.
According to Flightaware.com, at least 2,000 flights were cancelled worldwide on Christmas Day, including roughly 700 originating from or headed to US airports, with more than 1,500 delays as of 0720 GMT.
On Friday, there were around 2,400 cancellations and almost 11,000 delays. The site also reported over 600 cancellations for Sunday.
Pilots, flight attendants and other staff have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to Covid, forcing Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines and many other carriers to cancel flights during one of the year’s peak travel periods.
Flightaware data showed United cancelled around 200 flights on both Friday and Saturday, or 10 percent of those that were scheduled.
“The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation,” United said in a statement on Friday.
“As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport,” the airline said, adding that it was working to rebook passengers.
Similarly, Delta cancelled at least 260 flights Saturday and around 170 on Friday, saying it has “exhausted all options and resources — including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover scheduled flying.”
“We apologize to our customers for the delay in their holiday travel plans,” the company said.
Eleven Alaska Airlines flights were axed, after employees said they were potentially exposed to Covid-19 and had to self-isolate in quarantine.
The cancellations added to the pandemic frustration for many Americans eager to reunite with their families over the holidays, after last year’s Christmas was severely curtailed.
Chinese airlines accounted for the highest number of cancellations with China Eastern scrapping around 480 flights or over 20 percent of its flight plan, and Air China grounding 15 percent of its total scheduled departures at around 0720 GMT Saturday.
Huge travel bump
According to estimates from the American Automobile Association, more than 109 million Americans were scheduled to travel by plane, train or automobile between December 23 and January 2, a 34 percent increase since last year.
But most of those plans were made before the outbreak of the Omicron variant, which has become the dominant strain in the United States, overwhelming some hospitals and healthcare workers.
Luckily, Omicron did not affect Santa’s travel plans, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which has tracked St. Nick’s Christmas journey for over 60 years.
Major General Eric Kenny, commander of the Canadian NORAD region, told AFP that Santa had distributed over two billion gifts and was above Pakistan around 1800 GMT.
“Santa is doing very well so far,” Kenny said. “He’s been at it for many hours already and will go throughout the evening as well.”
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden also spoke to NORAD officials via video conference Friday to ensure Father Christmas’ trip was going smoothly.
Biden then spoke, also via video call, to several American families, asking children what presents they wanted and telling them that they had to be in bed before midnight, otherwise Santa would not come.
But in a sign of deep political divisions plaguing American society, the event then took a sour turn, when a father, to whom Biden had just wished happy holidays, launched an insult at him.
According to journalists present at the event, the father said “Merry Christmas” followed by “Let’s go Brandon!” The phrase has been used by supporters of Donald Trump as a euphemism for a derogatory remark against the current president.
Source: AFP