The authorities in Rio de Janeiro have decided to suspend the traditional massive street parades of the next carnival due to the progression of the Omicron variant linked to the end-of-year celebrations.
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“The street carnival as it took place until 2020 (…) will not take place in 2022”Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said in a live broadcast on social media, advancing the difficulties in controlling these festivities in a period of growing Covid-19 infections.
The city councilor of the Brazilian “Marvelous City” made the announcement after a meeting with representatives of the neighborhood musical groups (the “blocos”) who usually animate this popular carnival. The parade of samba schools in the Sambodrome is for the moment maintained, for the end of February.
Rio’s street carnival has been canceled for the second year in a row due to a pandemic. Eduardo Paes clarified that it had been proposed to hold events in three different parts of the city, but the “blocos” did not accept it. They plan to give him a “against proposal“, he added.
During the 2020 carnival, some 7 million people took part in the street festivities, according to the tourism department of the town hall, Riotur.
Brazil is the second country in the world most bereaved by the pandemic, behind the United States, with an estimated 620,000 deaths from the coronavirus.