The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes (PSD), said that for the time being the confirmation of the arrival of the Ômicron variant in Brazil, and even the first suspicion of it in the city, do not change anything in the city’s plans, including for the realization of the New Year’s Eve party. “For a while [a Ômicron] not [muda nada]. You’ll ask me tomorrow, I’ll tell you no. And we vaill take it this way, he told the CNN.
Earlier, Governor Cláudio Castro (PL) also stated that the end-of-year festivities in Rio de Janeiro are maintained. “At this moment there is still no such risk. The secretariats have been working together. This is a daily analysis. In today’s X-ray, you can’t talk about cancellation. If the secretariat says you can’t have it, you won’t have it. If you can have it, you will have it”, stated Castro.
Asked about the decision of other 17 mayors of capitals that canceled the celebrations of the turnaround, Paes said he does not see their attitude as wrong, but wants respect for the posture of the capital city of Rio de Janeiro.
“I respect all decisions as I want them to respect decisions here. We are going to wait for the scientific committee, monitor how this new strain is going, its impacts, and make decisions according to science. If we can’t make New Year’s, it won’t be done. But we understand that there is a time to make this decision and we are going to follow our planning, our organization, because what you plan you can not do, but what you don’t plan you can’t do at all”, he said.
Last week, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro (PL), told CNN that he would make a decision in relation to New Year’s Eve in the first fifteen days of December, but that he saw no reason for cancellation until then in the situation the city was in. . Even with the news of the arrival of the Ômicron variant, the position was reaffirmed this Wednesday (1/12). The deadline is the same as estimated by Paes, who also stated that he is in line with the government.
“In relation to New Year’s Eve, we will be in tune with the state government and I think that’s it, this first half of December. Also long after that, there is either canceling, or confirming at the last minute”, said the mayor.
Three cases of the Ômicron variant have already been confirmed in the state of São Paulo this week. Two in the capital of São Paulo and one in the city of Guarulhos, where the country’s largest airport is located, which concentrates flights from southern Africa.
On Wednesday (1), Rio de Janeiro informed that it sent for sequencing the positive result of a PCR test carried out by a woman who recently returned from South Africa. She lives in the southern part of the city and is in isolation. The sample is being analyzed by Fiocruz and the result should come out within 5 days.
Reference: CNN Brasil
