With low COVID-19 infection rates, Rio to hold New Year's party

Rio de Janeiro will hold its famed New Year's Eve party after all, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced Thursday, five days after canceling the celebration over concerns about Covid-19.The iconic Brazilian beach city will go ahead with its annual fireworks display, though the huge concert that usually follows remains canceled, Paes told a news conference."The city is open. The city is going to celebrate," he said."Rio de Janeiro has low (Covid-19) infection rates, low numbers of hospitalizations, and thanks to God and the vaccine, a very low number of deaths. That enables us to hold this event in complete safety."The mayor had tweeted Saturday that Rio had to cancel the festivities "with sadness," amid concerns over the new Omicron variant.But he said Thursday that Governor Claudio Castro told him he may have spoken too soon.After further meetings with Rio state and city health officials, authorities decided to go ahead with a reconfigured event, Paes said.In addition to the world-famous fireworks show on Copacabana beach, the city will hold fireworks displays in nine other spots, and encourage revelers to go to the nearest one to avoid excessive crowds.Copacabana will be closed to car traffic and public transportation, and tour buses will not be allowed into the city after the evening of December 30.Paes said officials would set up spots where people could be vaccinated against Covid-19.Brazil has registered more than 615,000 deaths in the pandemic, second only to the United States.But with 65 percent of the country's 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the number of infections and deaths has plunged.Rio's announcement came amid cautious optimism from world health authorities over Omicron.The variant is spreading fast, but early evidence suggests it causes less severe disease, according to the World Health Organization.Paes did not address another famed Rio party threatened by Covid-19, the annual carnival celebration scheduled to kick off on February 25.