Rio de Janeiro will close its beaches on the last night …

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro announced on Monday that During the night of Thursday, December 31, all access to the city’s beaches will be blocked, in order to avoid the agglomerations that contribute to the spread of the coronavirus.

The measure includes banning vehicular traffic in certain streets of Boulevard de Rio de Janeiro, where millions of people gathered every December 31 to welcome the New Year. Only residents of neighboring neighborhoods will be able to walk around the premises and Violation of this rule can be penalized with fines of up to $ 2,800.

Forty police barriers will be in charge of the operation to prevent passage through the streets leading to the coast, both for public transport and for private vehicles. The metro will also stop running in these areas.

“We must send a hard and direct message to the people “said Alexandre Cardeman, Managing Director of the Rio Operations Center (COR), in charge of security and traffic via video surveillance.

“But the action plan is above all an instrument to limit overpopulation; what we want to convey, beyond these restrictions, is that a lot depends on ourselves, to have a conscious new year and to stay at home, ”added the manager.

A few weeks ago, the mayor’s office announced festivities with internet musical performances and a ban on entry into the Copacabana neighborhood on Thursday evening, the traditional epicenter of the holiday season.

Brazil is the third country with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus accumulated since the start of the pandemic and the second with the most deaths from the disease. Rio de Janeiro, for its part, has a death rate of 216 per 100,000 inhabitants, more than double the national average.