RIO DE JANEIRO – A month ago, a massive Carnival party bursting with samba music and smiling faces raged inside Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome.
Today, its floodlights are off and there's no hint of celebration as its grounds serve a humanitarian purpose: protecting the homeless from the new coronavirus.
Rio’s Sambadrome started receiving homeless people on Monday, with City Hall giving priority to the elderly, pregnant and women with children.
It’s one of several large event spaces in Brazil being re-purposed as the nation reports more than 4,500 new coronavirus cases and 150 deaths.