Copa America opens in Brazil COVID in the wake of the crisis Coronavirus pandemic News

While the long-delayed football tournament in Brazil is still growing pandemic, more than 486,000 deaths have been recorded.

After the uncertainty which country would take over, the Brazilian Supreme Court could back down and hear the coronavirus infections reported by all three groups. long overdue Copa America a football tournament has opened in the Brazilian capital.

The host Brazil opened the international competition against Venezuela at 18:00 (21:00 GMT) on Sunday at an empty Mane Garrincha stadium in Brazil.

The opening match has been reported by local health authorities to Venezuelan players and staff and has arrived in a few days has been positive For COVID-19, it destroyed Brazil and caused more than 486,000 deaths.

In total, 13 members of the Venezuelan national team have tested positive for the virus, including coaches, the CONMEBOL South American football confederation has said.

Bolivia later said one of its three players and a coach had also tested positive and were isolated against Paraguay on Monday ahead of the team’s debut. On Sunday, two members of the Colombian delegation also tested positive.

The Copa America is plagued by the fact that the tournament was delayed by 12 months due to the pandemic, and the original hosts had to withdraw from Colombia and Argentina. constant social unrest in the first, and COVID-19 exacerbates infections in the latter.

CONMEBOL he announced at the end of last month, Brazil would host the tournament, and it raised concerns about whether the events would worsen the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the South American nation.

Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew, who reported from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, said Brazil will reach a dark milestone of half a million coronavirus deaths during or immediately after the tournament.

The country has reported more than 486,000 deaths and more than 17.3 million cases so far, according to estimates by Johns Hopkins University, and health experts have warned that another wave of the pandemic is possible.

Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is among those in the parliamentary inquiry into how the Brazilian government has handled the pandemic in the Copa America.

“Every day in Congress, people discuss why the government downplayed the virus. The president himself doesn’t wear masks, he holds rallies, he has crowds, he says masks are not necessary, he says social distance is not necessary. This is behind this sporting event. the plane, ”he said.

Bolsonaro, a skeptic of the coronavirus who received a $ 108 fine from the state of Sao Paulo on Saturday for failing to put on a mask at a motorcycle rally with many of his supporters, stressed that the Copa America must move forward.

“There are special interests in the implementation of the America’s Cup,” sociologist Rodrigo Moreira of the Federal University of Fluminense told AFP news agency.

“The government wants to show that it is ready to host the country when it is not in reality. And [organisers] Moreira said he wants to guarantee the profits made from television rights and protection agreements.

Epidemiologists, coronavirus parliamentary poll staff and some players and coaches expressed concern about the Brazil that hosts the tournament.

The country’s Supreme Court on Friday ordered The Copa America could move forward, but the judges ordered the authorities to take additional security measures.

“It falls [state governors and mayors] establish appropriate health protocols and ensure that they are respected, to prevent ‘Copavirus’, with new infections and the emergence of new variants, ”Judge Carmen Lucia wrote in her ruling.

Demonstrators held a sign saying “Bolsonaro out” in front of the Mane Garrincha stadium in protest of the Copa America, where the opening match of the tournament between Brazil and Venezuela will be held in Brasilia on June 13. [Sergio Lima/AFP]