Rio reopens beaches as pandemic shows slight signs of slowing down

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro on Monday reopened its beaches and parks, at a time when the pandemic is showing slight signs of slowing down in Brazil after the deadliest month since the start of the health crisis in April.

As of this Monday and only during the week, the “Marvelous City” Mayor’s Office authorized the presence of beachgoers on the sand and in the water, which had been closed since late March.

Nevertheless, last Saturday and Sunday hundreds of people crowded the city’s iconic strands, such as Ipanema and Copacabana, despite the restrictions imposed by the authorities to contain the virus.

In addition to beaches, as of Monday Rio de Janeiro has given the green light to the opening of parks and waterfalls, as well as authorizing bars, restaurants and non-essential businesses closed at the beginning of the month.

The new relaxation phase in Rio de Janeiro comes after a stabilization of the pandemic in the state and a slight reduction of the epidemiological curve in the whole country, one of the most affected by the pandemic in the world.

After several tragic consecutive records throughout April, the most lethal month in the health emergency, the number of coronavirus cases dropped for the third consecutive week, while the number of deaths fell for the second week.

The apparent truce comes after the restriction measures imposed between March and April in different states of the country, among them Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, to contain the unstoppable advance of the pandemic, which has overwhelmed the health system, with oxygen and medicine shortages in several hospitals.

But despite the slight decrease, indicators remain at very high levels, with an average of 58,800 cases and 2,495 deaths per day due to covid-19 over the past 7 days, and an incidence rate of 6,824 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The still strong advance of the virus did not prevent images of crowds from being repeated this weekend in different parts of the country, including São Paulo, the state with most cases and deaths from Covid-19 in Brazil and which has also begun to relax its measures after stabilizing the curve and reducing its hospital pressure.

Brazil is the country with the second highest number of deaths from Covid-19 in the world, behind the United States, and the third highest number of cases, behind the USA and India, which is currently experiencing its worst phase of the pandemic with record numbers of infections and deaths and a critical situation due to oxygen shortages.

Despite the Brazil’s critical situation, vaccination, the effort of the Government to stop the crisis remains slow and Minister of Health Marcelo Queiroga conceded to deficits in the supply of the second dose of the Chinese Coronavac, due to a shortage of vaccines in the country.