The party never stops at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Even Coronavirus will not intimidate this beach most in the world see as the most beautiful land on the globe. Could it soon become the deadliest land as well?
Copacabana, the very name itself provokes images of beauty, sand, and ocean. The magnificent jungle-clad mountains rise from the ocean and seem to blend into the beautiful bend of Copacabana Beach, a world-renowned hotspot for tourists from around the world. The neighborhood lives up to its nickname, A Princesinha do Mar or Princess of the Sea. Copa (short for Copacabana) is a paradise with stunning beaches, lively streets, where the party never seems to stop. Apart from being Rio’s egalitarian and eclectic neighborhood, romance and glamour are its obvious trademarks.
Brazil is entering the most dangerous phase of Coronavirus. With record infections, Brazilians just had enough and started to forget about social distancing. Recommendations by health experts to remain isolated are being challenged even by a nursing technician who worked in a field hospital for coronavirus patients.
‘The coronavirus is being controlled a little more, that gave me the security to go out,’ she said.
With more than 4,148,000 confirmed infections and 127,000 deaths from the virus, Brazil has the second-highest totals in behind only the United States. In recent weeks, Latin America’s largest country has left a new case number plateau that had dragged on for almost three months and started seeing a reduction in the number of new confirmed cases.
But with an average of 820 deaths per day, its numbers are still considered high in Brazil.
A pulmonologist at Brazil´s premier biomedical research and development lab, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, or Fiocruz, warned that if Brazilians are negligent the country could see a repeat of what happened in Europe, especially Spain, where second waves of new cases were seen.
People at Copacabana Beach in Rio are at the beach ignoring all rules of social distancing. The same is true in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s worst-hit state with more than 855,000 confirmed infections and 31,000 deaths. Thousands of residents took advantage of the long weekend to travel to the coast.
