Brazil’s Rio cancels New Year celebration as pandemic continues

Sao Paulo, Dec. 5 (BNA): The mayor of Rio de Janeiro canceled New Year’s Eve celebrations after Brazil confirmed the first known cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Latin America’s largest country.

On Saturday, Eduardo Paes tweeted that he would follow the recommendations of the state of Rio de Janeiro to cancel the festivities, despite the city’s opinion to the contrary.

“We respect science,” Pace wrote on Twitter, saying there were opposing views among city and state science committees, but he preferred to stick with the more restrictive ones. “The city committee says it can go ahead and the state says no. So it can’t happen. Let’s cancel the official New Year’s Eve celebration in Rio,” she tweeted.

The cancellation of the party, which attracts millions of residents and tourists to the world-famous Copacabana Beach to watch the fireworks, was no surprise.

“I am very sad as mayor and personally. New Year’s Eve celebration in Rio is one of the most unbelievable and incomparable in the world,” Paes said at a press conference.

In Brazil, the epidemic has claimed more than 615,000 lives, the second highest total in the world after the United States.

No additional restrictions will be imposed, Paes said, stressing that vaccinated tourists are welcome in Rio de Janeiro as the city has recorded a decline in deaths and cases, and a high level of vaccination.

Health experts supported the cancellation, via a tweet from Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro after Pais’ announcement left room for a possible coup.

Castro said Paes had agreed to hold a meeting next week with state and municipal health authorities to “make a final decision” on the matter.

HF