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Sao Paulo Quickens Reopening as Virus Recedes in Early Hot Spot

  • Movie theaters, museums allowed to reopen from Saturday
  • Criteria to move to final phase unclear, may include vaccine
Commuters wear protective masks inside the Luz train station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 8.

Commuters wear protective masks inside the Luz train station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 8.

Photographer: Jonne Roriz/Bloomberg

Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, will begin to open movie theaters and museums this weekend for the first time since March as the Brazilian metropolis advances to one of the final phases of its reopening plan with infections declining.

The change follows improving virus numbers in the state, Brazil’s largest and the first to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic. With cases and deaths declining and ICUs about 43% full, about 76% of the state’s population is now on the so-called “phase green,” Governor Joao Doria and Mayor Bruno Covas said in a press conference Friday.