Omicron spreads global gloom over New Year’s celebrations

BRUSSELS (AP) -- New Year celebrations are approaching and across the world there is an urge to party.

But the desire to let loose is being countered by the highly transmissible omicron variant. Monday is a case in point with several governments considering more restrictions to add to a patchwork of measures and lockdowns already in place around Europe.

The French government and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were assessing the latest data and the need to counter the record numbers of COVID-19 infections with more measures to keep people apart at a time when they so dearly want to be together.