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Paes says Carnival parade in Rio is held “if rules don’t change”

Although some representatives of the scientific committees that advise the state government and city hall have already positioned themselves against the holding of Carnival in Marquês de Sapucaí, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, said that it is too early to stop the parade of schools of Samba.

“Since there is no manifestation of the scientific committee of the city hall, which is what I hear, in this direction, we are going to keep the rules. Unless they change the rules. If these rules are to create an obstacle to Carnival, we will create an obstacle to Carnival, but they have to apply to everything. I no longer want to be debating an event that will take place in 50 days, when I have to deal with this week”, said the mayor.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for next Wednesday (12). The vice president of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases and member of the Committee, Alberto Chebabo, informed the CNN who will recommend that there be no parades. Last week, the parade of street blocks was cancelled, due to the lack of possibility to carry out sanitary control in public access, with the collection of the vaccine passport, for example.

Rio de Janeiro saw the Covid-19 positivity rate reach 41% at the beginning of the year, as a result of the entry of the Ômicron variant, which has already become predominant in the state capital. Even so, the restrictive measures remain the same as when this percentage was 0.7%. The reason is that the strain has not increased the number of hospitalizations for the disease.

“If today, in restricted environments, people are allowed to gather, meet and celebrate, as long as they can prove it with the vaccination passport, we have to think about it. How are you today, what’s going on this week? I think this should be the focus”, said the mayor of Rio.

According to the municipal health secretary, Daniel Soranz, the situation is being analyzed day by day. New restrictive measures are not ruled out. The most important thing, however, according to Soranz, is that the population follows the rules already imposed. Among them, make the smart use of the mask. “If it’s outdoors, but there’s agglomeration, you have to use it,” Soranz recalled.

Another strategy to prevent the increase in severe cases of Ômicron and not need to increase restrictions again is the booster dose. According to the Municipal Health Department, 800,000 people who are already eligible to receive the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine have not yet shown up to take the immunizing agent. This Monday (10), the mayor, who is 52 years old, took the third dose during the reopening of the vaccination post in Cidade das Artes, in Barra da Tijuca, west of Rio.

Reference: CNN Brasil

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