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HEALTH-VIRUS-BRAZIL-TOURISM
Brazil’s Rio cancels New Year beach party over pandemic
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Rio de Janeiro’s annual New Year’s
Eve beach bash, already reduced in scope and format, has been canceled due to
the raging coronavirus pandemic, the mayor’s office said Tuesday.
What is normally a mega-party with live music, a dazzling display of
fireworks and hundreds of thousands of people dancing to live music had
already been drastically downsized, with the fireworks canceled and several
events moved online.
Mayor Marcelo Crivella’s office said in a statement that it had “opted to
cancel the event out of respect for all of the victims, and to prioritize
security for all.”
Some 180,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Brazil, population 212
million. It is the world’s second highest death toll after the United States,
and virus cases are on the rise.
Rio de Janeiro has the highest ratio of Covid-19 victims of any Brazilian
state.
Canceling the New Year event “is a decision necessary for the protection
of all. The party will be to hope for good results from the vaccine,”
Crivella said in the statement.
– Carnival 2021 also axed –
Officials also canceled the city’s 2021 Carnival event, normally held in
late February, although they left open the possibility of having a later off-
season event if the vaccination campaign is successful.
The government of President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil has guaranteed
access to 300 million vaccines, mainly those developed by Oxford University
along with AstraZeneca pharmaceutical and Brazil’s Fiocruz foundation, as
well as vaccines from the Covax Facility international initiative.
The government is also in talks with Pfizer to acquire another 70 million
vaccines.
Brazil’s health ministry said Tuesday that officials expect to be able to
vaccinate at-risk groups — the elderly, health professionals and native
Brazilians — within four months of the vaccine’s approval, and all
Brazilians within 16 months.
The statement followed a court order demanding dates for the start and end
of the national vaccination program.
Details of Brazil’s national vaccination plan have been caught up in
political infighting between Bolsonaro and Joao Doria, the governor of Sao
Paulo state and a likely candidate in the 2022 presidential race.
Doria supports including the CoronaVac vaccine — developed by Sinovac, a
private Chinese lab, in collaboration with Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute —
in the national vaccination plan.
Bolsonaro however claims that this is just a ploy by his political rival
and of the Chinese communist government.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0825 hrs