The world began ushering in 2022 on Friday after another tumultuous and pandemic-ridden year capped by new restrictions, soaring case numbers, and a slight glimmer of hope for better times ahead, report agencies.
The past 12 months saw a new US president and a new Adele album, the first spectator-free Olympics, and dreams of democracy from Afghanistan to Myanmar and Hong Kong crushed by authoritarian regimes.
But it was the pandemic -- now entering its third year -- that again dominated life for most of humankind.
Meanwhile, the overall number of global coronavirus cases has surged past 287 million fueled by the spread of the Omicron variant.
According to Worldometers, the total case count mounted to 287,054,304 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,449,037 Friday evening.
More than 9.16 billion doses have been administered across 184 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 38.7 million doses a day.
Countless more have been sickened -- subjected to outbreaks, lockdowns, lock-ins and an alphabet spaghetti of PCR, LFT and RAT tests.
The year 2021 started with hope, as life-saving vaccines were rolled out to around 60 per cent of the world's population, although many of its poor still have limited access, and some of its rich believe the jabs are part of some ill-defined plot.
As the year drew to a close, the emergence of the Omicron variant pushed the number of daily new Covid-19 cases past one million for the first time, according to an AFP tally.
France became the latest country to announce Omicron was now its dominant coronavirus strain on Friday.
In Britain, the United States, and even Australia -- long a refuge from the pandemic -- the variant's prominence is driving record new cases.
Parts of the Pacific nation of Kiribati became the first to welcome in the new year from 1000 GMT.
But from Seoul to San Francisco, celebrations have again been cancelled or curtailed as infections rise.
One notable exception though was South Africa -- the first country to report Omicron back in November -- where a curfew was lifted to allow festivities to go ahead.
Health officials said that a dip in infections in the past week indicated the peak of the current wave had passed -- crucially without a significant increase in deaths.
The World Health Organization has warned of trying times ahead, saying Omicron could lead to "a tsunami of cases".
"This... will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Many Western leaders have been hesitant to reimpose strict controls seen in 2020, for fear of sparking a new economic downturn.
Experts and non-experts alike hope that 2022 may be remembered as a new, less deadly phase of the pandemic.
"Hopefully 2022 is going to be better for everyone," said 31-year-old reveller Oscar Ramirez in Sydney.
Meanwhile, with more than 580,000 cases, the United States shattered its own record for new daily coronavirus cases - beating a milestone it already broke just the day before.
Another report adds: Britain has approved Pfizer's COVID-19 pill for patients over the age of 18 years who have mild to moderate infection and are at high risk of their illness worsening.
The approval comes as the country scrambles to build its defences amid a record hit a daily record of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, government data showed surge in COVID-19 cases.
Based on data, the pill, Paxlovid, is most effective when taken during the early stages of COVID-19, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Friday, recommending that the drug be used within five days of the onset of symptoms.
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