Rio's dazzling Carnival parade back after 2-year pandemic hiatus | See pics

Rio de Janeiro's carnival, a glittering, sequin-studded festival of the flesh, exploded back to life Friday after two a two-year Coronavirus induced hiatus. (With inputs from AP,  AFP,  Reuters)

By Ishika Yadav
Published on Apr 23, 2022 10:32 am IST 8 Photos
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Colorful floats and flamboyant dancers are delighting tens of thousands jammed into Rio de Janeiro's iconic Sambadrome, putting on a delayed Carnival celebration after the pandemic halted the dazzling displays.(REUTERS)

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Sambadrome - the dedicated carnival parade venue - turned into a drive-through vaccination center at the height of the health crisis. ((AP Photo/Bruna Prado))

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The all-night parades by the city's top samba schools Friday and Saturday nights are the first since February 2020, marking a turning point for hard-hit Brazil, where Covid-19 has claimed more than 660,000 lives, second only to the United States..(Andres Borges/Bloomberg)

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Each samba school in the competition has 60 to 70 minutes to tell a story in music and dance, to be evaluated on nine criteria by the jury. (REUTERS/Pilar Olivares)

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Ketula Melo, 38, a muse in the Imperatriz Leopoldinense school dressed as the Iemanja deity of Afro-Brazilian religions, was thrilled to be back at the Sambadrome. “These two years were horrible. Now we can be happy again,” Melo told AP as she was about to enter Friday night wearing a black and white costume made of shells. ((AP Photo/Bruna Prado))

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