RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro’s samba schools will return to the Carnaval parade at the Sambadrome located on Marquês de Sapucaí in 2022 after this year’s show was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the body representing the schools said Thursday.
According to the Independent League of Samba Schools (Liesa), which signed a contract with the city government to hold Carnaval for the next four years, next year’s parades should take place with the presence of public in the stands of the Sambadrome, due to the progress of the immunization campaign in the country.
“The mass vaccination gives us the expectation that we will have a complete and grand Carnaval again on Sapucaí,” Liesa president Jorge Perlingeiro told Reuters.
“We still have seven months ahead of us for even greater control of the disease,” he added. “We work with the perspective of public presence in the bleachers, box seats, and cabins. To be economically viable, Carnaval on Sapucaí has to have at least 70% capacity.”
This year, Rio had no Carnaval either in Sapucaí or traditional street blocks due to the pandemic.
The first case of Covid-19 in Brazil was registered in February 2020, right after the Carnaval. Experts believe that the coronavirus was already circulating in the country during the festive period, contributing to the wide dissemination of the disease.