Rio Cancels Carnival Street Parades for Second Year on Omicron Wave
(Bloomberg) -- Rio de Janeiro canceled its world-renowned Carnival street parades for the second consecutive year as new wave of Covid infections spread through the Brazilian city.
Mayor Eduardo Paes announced Tuesday evening after meeting with health officials that a recent surge in Covid cases, likely related to the Omicron variant, forced him to prohibit street celebrations, which attract hundreds of thousands of party-goers each year.
“The street carnival, by its very nature, due to the democratic aspect it has, makes it impossible to exercise any kind of inspection,” Paes said in a web broadcast.
Unlike last year, though, the mayor said parades of samba schools through the city's Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, where spectators watch from the stands, would proceed.
Read More: Brazil Faces Virus Onslaught as Influenza Spreads With Omicron
After a relative lull in infections, Brazilian health officials are beginning to sound the alarm again as the Omicron variant and influenza spread through big cities. In Rio de Janeiro, the number of confirmed positive Covid cases jumped from about in 1% early December to nearly 13% at the end of the month, according to city data.
Other big Brazilian cities are dashing Carnival plans in the wake of the latest pandemic surge. Sao Paulo, the nation's largest metropolis, is considering transferring street parades to the city Interlagos Formula One racetrack, according to daily Folha do Sao Paulo. The northeastern city of Salvador announced it would cancel street parades, while Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas de Gerais state, said it would not sponsor celebrations this year.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
India's Troika Of Good Luck | Joining The Dots
A weaker Trump, a cooling AI trade and resilient earnings have put Indian markets back in favour. Rising inflation could spoil the party.
-
Talking Points This Week: Leadership Shock At Nvidia, Earnings Strength, And The Fog Over Hormuz
The Anthropic IPO pricing and first trading day, Nvidia's upcoming earnings, and any fresh signals from Iran will set the tone for the following week.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
