By Adeyinka Olaiya/Brazil
The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, this Tuesday 4th , Jan. 2022, announced the cancellation of the street Carnival in Rio de Janeiro , he said the sudden outspread of COVID 19 in the recent weeks has led to the suspension.
According to the Mayor , the decision was taken at a closed meeting with the Mayor, the municipal secretary of Health, Daniel Soranz, cultural producer , Rita Fernandes, president of Sebastiana, the organizing association of street blocks in Rio de Janeiro, and other members of the main blocks in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The mayor announced that the carnival blocks will not parade through the streets of Rio de Janeiro this year due to the covid-19 pandemic, he said the decision to cancel the exhibitions was taken in consensus this afternoon , he said the increase in the number of new cases of Covid in the city has led to the impossibility of free parties on the streets, stating the impossibility of health control, even though the growth of infections is not being accompanied by more serious cases and deaths in Rio de Janeiro.
According to the Mayor , the carnival expected to start from late February to early March will not permit street parties and parades , but will maintain other activities. He said it will maintain the samba school parades in Sapucai and other private engagements with rigorous controls .
According to News Reports , Brazil is still battling the effects of Covid in Rio de Janeiro and several other cities in the country . “The street carnival in the molds that were made until 2020, and which did not happen in 2021, will not happen in 2022 either”, said the Mayor in an online broadcast this afternoon 4th. Jan.2022.
Other Brazilian capitals including São Paulo, Maceió and Campo Grande are yet to cancel the street carnival parades ; these capitals confirmed the official street Carnival parades meanwhile .
Also , In one of the biggest tourist destinations this time of year, the governor of Bahia, Rui Costa, confirmed that the state will not have official programming for the carnival.
As at the moment , it is certain that Rio de Janeiro will not permit street parades during the carnival, the decision of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall came after a meeting with the city’s block leagues, which represents the 450 of them.
However, Eduardo Pães, the City Mayor explained that there is a very large structure for each block , he said that people have no idea of this danger, he advised it has to be well planned and properly done in advance. The mayor confirmed the pressure from the street Carnival sponsor, Ambev – which paid R$ 39 million for the support – on the viability of the parties .
The Mayor himself, along with the city’s health secretary, Daniel Soranz, agreed the measure could make the popular festival more elite. He proposed to Ambev and to the blocks’ leagues, that they organize closed and free parties so that there will be epidemiological control at the entrance than the parades in the streets.
The Representatives of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival and the sponsors disagreed with the Mayor over the suspension of the street carnival, they intend to contest the decision.
