Rio de Janeiro Carnival cancelled again due to COVID pandemic

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro has cancelled its Carnival festival for the second year in a row because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Eduardo Paes announced the decision on social media on Tuesday after a meeting with representatives of Carnival groups.
He said it was not practically feasible to hold the street carnival while maintaining entry restrictions and other coronavirus measures at the street celebration which hundreds of groups had registered for.
More than 3 million people took to the streets during four days for the last Carnival festival held in 2020, according to news outlet G1.
Meanwhile, plans for parades in the Sambodrome in February and March are scheduled to go ahead for now. Paes said infection controls are easier to implement at those events.
More than 22 million people in Brazil have been infected with coronavirus, according to official figures.
Around 618,000 people have died in connection with Covid-19 in Brazil. Only the United States has recorded a higher death count.
As Brazil's vaccination campaign progressed, the number of new deaths dropped sharply.
Almost 70 per cent of the Brazilian population is now fully vaccinated. Since the first infections with the new Omicron variant were detected in the country at the beginning of December, the number of positive tests has risen again.