Rio de Janeiro beaches explode despite concern over Covid-19

The sunny Sunday and high temperatures hours before the onset of the southern summer sent thousands of people flocking to the beaches, the vast majority without masks or any other prevention, and caused crowds in the famous sands of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblón from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The city, with 24,473 deaths and 406,820 infections, is the second most affected by the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil, which is one of the global epicenters of the pandemic, the second country with the most covid deaths in the world after the United States, and the third with the most cases, after the United States and the ‘India.

After a week with sporadic rains, the sunny and festive day, and temperatures that have reached 38 degrees Celsius, contributed to the agglomerations on the beaches of bathers who did not respect the rules of distance and who, without protection, practiced group sports on the sands, as seen in the photos published by the agency EFE.

The fear of epidemiologists is that the agglomerations observed on the last Sunday of spring will repeat themselves throughout the summer and that they will turn the beaches into fertile ground for the expansion of the pandemic.

“In this way, the beaches become an environment for the spread of the virus. People are tired of taking care of themselves and believe that on the beach, in the open air, they can live together without any kind of prevention. “said Chrystina Barros, health researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

For Barros, in the midst of what appears to be a second wave of the pandemic, The onset of summer presents a risk that can turn into a tragedy if authorities do not impose new distancing rules or control existing ones.

Despite the fact that the state of Rio de Janeiro recorded just 19 deaths and 3,160 infections as of Sunday, numbers well below the average attributed to the reduction in the number of officials handling data, deaths and cases have increased in the area since a week ago.

According to statistics, the average number of daily deaths in the last 14 days in Rio de Janeiro stood at 107 as of Sunday, growing 34% from two weeks ago, while the average number of infections rose to 2,527 per day.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the world can “begin to dream of an end to the pandemic” through the development of effective vaccines, the planet is facing outbreaks that have caused the return to health. isolation in countries like Italy or the United Kingdom.

he The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, this Saturday questioned the “rush” to access the vaccine against the covid-19, amid criticism of his vaccination plan and despite the fact that the world is facing an epidemic that has forced some countries to return to containment.

“The pandemic is coming to an end. The numbers have shown it. We have a small increase now, what is called a small rebound (…) But the vaccine rush is not justified, because you are playing with the life of the people “the far-right president said in an interview with his son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, on YouTube.

Bolsonaro released Thursday 20 billion reais (about 4 billion dollars) to buy vaccines. But that same day, he continued his anti-vaccine campaign which advocates that vaccination is not compulsory. “I’m in no rush to spend this money,” he said on Saturday.

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