Rio Carnival cancelled again because of COVID-19: Live | News
US, UK and France among countries reporting record infections as Omicron sweeps world.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s live blog on the coronavirus pandemic as the Omicron variant continues to sweep the world. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.
A quick summary of some of the latest developments:
- The United States has set a new global record for daily cases, reporting 1,082,549 new cases on Monday after the holiday weekend.
- The United Kingdom, France and other European nations are also reporting record caseloads.
- The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there is growing evidence that Omicron, while more transmissible, causes milder symptoms.
Here are the latest updates:
Rio cancels Carnival for second year in a row
Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro has cancelled its Carnival parade for the second year in a row.
The city’s mayor says that’s because of an increase in COVID-19 cases and the threat from the arrival of the Omicron variant.
The parade usually draws hundreds of thousands of people every year.
“The street carnival, by its very nature, due to the democratic aspect it has, makes it impossible to exercise any kind of inspection,” Eduardo Paes said in a live internet broadcast.
Other Brazilian capitals have also cancelled their Carnival parades.
For coronavirus’ news from January 4, please click here.
