Prognosis

Sao Paulo Sets Week-Long Holiday to Halt Covid in Brazil

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A healthcare worker prepares to administer the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in the Jardim Mitsutani favela of Sao Paulo.Photographer: Victor Moriyama/Bloomberg

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By Julia Leite and Andre Romani Pinto

March 18, 2021 at 6:04 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, will bring forward holidays going as far as 2022 as officials scramble to halt the spread of coronavirus that’s killing over 2,500 Brazilians a day.

The week-long holiday was announced by Mayor Bruno Covas on Thursday and is aimed at curbing the circulation of people between March 26 and April 1 -- the following day, a Friday, is already a national holiday. For that, it’s bringing forward days off scheduled as far in the future as November 2022. The plan is similar to what officials did last year, which Covas said yielded good results.