Rio de Janeiro closed its famous beaches on Friday in an attempt to curb a resurgence of Covid-19, an action criticized by President Jair Bolsonaro, who chairs the anti-lockdown, and which said the citizens of sin can risk a lack of vitamin D.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said the situation in the iconic beach town was “very critical” and urged residents to stay home to slow down the spread of the virus.
Covid-19 is raging in Brazil, where intensive care units are more than 80 percent full in 25 of 27 states.
In Rio, the rate is 95 percent.
Brazil registered its second deadliest day of the pandemic on Friday, with 2,815 deaths within 24 hours and a record 90,500 cases.
But Bolsonaro, who opposed house measures and face masks, continued his campaign to keep the economy completely open, criticizing the closure of Rio on the grounds that it would be deprived of the necessary sunshine.
“Vitamin D is a way to prevent the virus from seriously affecting you. And where do you get vitamin D from the sun? Such hypocrisy,” the judge-leader said.
– ‘Time to stay home’ –
Rio also closed its beaches a year ago during the first wave of Covid-19, with limited results.
Legendary beaches such as Copacabana and Ipanema were often crowded on sunny days, with few police to enforce the closure.
The city reopened its beaches in November, just before the summer in the southern hemisphere.
Paes also banned bus connections in the city for the weekend, trying to prevent tourists from contributing to the spread of the virus.
He warned that more restrictive measures could be announced on Monday after meeting with the expert committee advising him on the pandemic.
“I appeal to all ‘Cariocas’ – the nickname for Rio’s residents -‘ now is the time to stay home, ” Paes told a news conference.
The city of 6.7 million people had already ordered on March 5 to close businesses at 9 p.m.
Sao Paulo, the economic capital of Brazil, has meanwhile decided to move up a series of five holidays in hopes of keeping more people at home.
Brazil is struggling to deal with a new wave of Covid-19 cases that experts say is partly driven by the emergence of a new type of virus known as ‘P1’ or the Brazilian variant.
The Covid-19 death toll in Brazil has risen sharply in recent weeks to more than 290,000, the second next to the United States.
mel / jhb / ft