RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The city of Rio de Janeiro, now the municipality with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Brazil, has banned all celebrations and sales of products on the streets during the Carnaval period, subject to penalties of up to one year imprisonment.
Rio de Janeiro had previously cancelled the samba school parades, one of the world’s largest shows.
Held in either February or March, Carnaval also gathers millions of people on the city’s street blocks, which are now also banned.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes signed a decree banning “meetings and parades of carnival blocks” and “any similar recreational activity” between February 12th and 22nd this year.
The penalty for anyone violating the Rio de Janeiro government decree is up to one year imprisonment. In addition, musical instruments and vehicles may be seized.
Carnaval parties are a nightmare for epidemiologists, as they traditionally gather huge crowds with no social distancing.
With this decree, the Mayor intends to prevent any crowd celebration whatsoever.
In September 2020, the Samba Schools organizing the parade at the Sambadrome decided to defer it to July because of the pandemic, centered mainly on the development of a vaccine.
In late January, when the national vaccination campaign had just begun, Rio Mayor announced that the city would no longer organize Carnaval out of season this year because of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With 6.7 million inhabitants, the city of Rio de Janeiro has registered 17,535 deaths from Covid-19 as of February 4th, overtaking São Paulo (17,523) as the municipality with the most coronavirus deaths, according to Ministry of Health data.
Brazil is among the hardest hit countries in the world, with 228,795 deaths and over 9.3 million cases. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused at least 2,285,334 deaths from over 104.8 million infections worldwide, according to a balance prepared by French AFP news agency.