The Rio de Janeiro Carnival champions' parade at the Sapucai Sambadrome on Feb. 29, 2020, in Brazil. Photo: Bruna Prado/Getty Images
The Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo on Friday postponed Carnival parades until the end of April due to rising COVID-19 cases, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: The cities had already canceled the Carnival street parties, but they were planning to still have the Carnival parade on the final weekend of February.
- "The decision was made respecting for the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and the need, at this time, to preserve lives and join forces to drive vaccination throughout the country," a joint statement from the cities of Rio and Sao Paulo said, NBC News reports.
The big picture: The announcement comes as Brazil faces a spike in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, with an average of almost 120,000 cases a day over the last seven days.