Many people stayed home on New Year’s Eve and celebrated only with their immediate family, heeding calls from health officials and experts amid fears of a fifth wave of the pandemic, news outlets reported.
Scores of events around the nation had been canceled or moved online. But many others went ahead, with vaccinated people enjoying preferential treatment.
A New Year's Eve light show at Warsaw's iconic Palace of Culture and Science. Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada
Various media organizations provided audiences with a variety of entertainment.
Polish state TV greets 2022 with massive open-air bash
State television broadcaster TVP greeted 2022 with a massive open-air bash in the southern mountain resort of Zakopane.
Its "New Year's Eve with TVP 2" event featured a long lineup of performers led by veteran pop singer Maryla Rodowicz, who has been on the Polish music scene for six decades.
Veteran Polish pop singer Maryla Rodowicz performs in Zakopane on New Year's Eve. Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski
Other domestic performers included teenage stars Roksana Węgiel and Sara James, alongside a host of popular homegrown dance music performers such as “Disco Polo King” Zenon Martyniuk.
International acts included American pop star Jason Derulo, German musician Thomas Anders of Modern Talking fame, and Arrival from Sweden, one of the world’s most popular ABBA tribute bands.
Up to 30,000 fans were allowed to attend, with the vaccinated separated from the unvaccinated, according to the wirtualnemedia.pl website.
Meanwhile, private TV broadcaster Polsat aired a concert featuring performers including veteran pop singer Beata Kozidrak, alongside acts such as Doda, Cleo, Michał Szpak, Viki Gabor, and the popular Polish folk-rock group Golec uOrkiestra.
No more than 250 unvaccinated fans were allowed near the stage at the Silesian Stadium in the southern city of Chorzów, wirtualnemedia.pl reported.
New Year's Eve with Polish Radio
Polish Radio offered some special treats for music lovers this New Year's Eve as the world ushered in 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Polish public radio broadcaster aired music by a variety of domestic pop acts as well as classical music courtesy of Warsaw’s National Philharmonic.
Attractions included a multimedia concert featuring performers such as the Młynarski-Masecki Jazz Band.
Poland on Friday reported 13,601 new coronavirus infections and 638 more deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the country's total number of cases during the pandemic to 4,108,215 and fatalities to 97,054.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda urged the unvaccinated to get their COVID-19 shots in a New Year's message as the country grapples with the fourth wave of the pandemic and braces for a surge in infections driven by the new omicron variant.
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Source: TVP, PAP, IAR