Access to the iconic sites of Rio de Janeiro, the tourist capital of Brazil, but also to cultural places or sports halls has been conditioned since Wednesday September 15 on the presentation of a health pass.
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At the foot of the Sugarloaf hill, the queue for the cable car went smoothly on Wednesday, with most visitors already having their coronavirus vaccination record or their mobile phone with an immunization certificate in hand, a noted an AFP-TV journalist.
The entry into force of the health pass should have taken place on September 1, but the town hall had postponed it for 15 days due to technical problems in the application of the Ministry of Health to show this certificate. The health pass is compulsory in sports halls, very frequented by cariocas, or in cinemas, theaters and concert or conference halls, but it is not required in bars or restaurants. Vaccination certificates from foreign countries are also accepted.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Tuesday said in an official ceremony that the “
vaccine passport
,” as it is called in Brazil, was “
important so that the city can get back to normal, that people can attend to. new public places
”.
"
We must create difficulties for those who do not want to be vaccinated,
" he had already said at the end of August.
"
Test event
" at the Maracana
The health pass has already been in force since September 1 in Sao Paulo, the country's largest metropolis, which, like Rio, has paid a heavy price for the coronavirus.
The vast majority of people in Brazil adhere to vaccination.
Wednesday evening, the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio will receive 20,000 spectators for the quarter-finals of the Brazilian Cup between the carioca club Flamengo and Gremio, in an enclosure with 78,000 seats.
This “
test event
” should make it possible to assess the possibility of the public returning to sports arenas.
All supporters had to present their vaccination certificate to obtain the tickets.
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The presence of the public was confirmed on Wednesday, a few hours before the match, after the rejection of a legal appeal from Gremio's team. The city of Rio deplores nearly 30,000 deaths from Covid-19, with a very high death rate of 439 per 100,000, well above the national average (280). Brazil is, with nearly 580,000 dead, the second most bereaved country by the Covid-19 epidemic, after the United States.