The Supreme Court of Brazil has given a green signal to the government for hosting the Copa America tournament despite the coronavirus pandemic.
In an extraordinary virtual session, a majority of the high court’s 11 justices decided to go against the petitions, which had argued that the South American championships posed an unacceptable health risk.
The court however, asked the government to take additional safety measures.
“It falls to (state governors and mayors) to set the appropriate health protocols and ensure they are respected in order to avoid a ‘Copavirus,’ with new infections and the emergence of new variants,” wrote Justice Carmen Lucia in her ruling.
Earlier, the showpiece event’s original co-hosts Colombia and Argentina had pulled out at the last minute.
While Colombia withdrew due to violent anti-government protests, the latter because of a surge of Covid-19 cases.
Significantly, Brazil is witnessing a massive spike in Covid-19 cases as the deadly virus has claimed nearly 480,000 lives in the country, second only to the United States.