The pandemic has led the authorities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to postpone the Carnival celebrations scheduled for next month to April 21. Both cities had already announced the suspension of the ‘carnaval de rua’ this year, animated by extras and bands who parade for free in front of millions of people on the streets. They have now chosen to postpone all celebrations to a time when “better health conditions are possible”. “The decision was made in compliance with the current situation of the Covid pandemic in Brazil and the need, at this time, to preserve human lives and join forces to lead vaccination across the country”, reads a joint statement. of the two cities.
Brazil, one of the states most affected by Covid-19, has registered 166,539 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, a figure that brings the average number of cases in the last week to a record of 117,797 per day. This is the highest daily average since the beginning of the pandemic, 38 times higher than that recorded less than a month ago, last December 23, when, before the arrival of the Omicron variant, Brazil had seen infections drop to a minimum since 20 months.