Street parties take over reduced Rio Carnival

Revelers took the streets of Rio de Janeiro for the third day in a row Saturday, with crowds of colorful carnival lovers parading through the city with drums, brass instruments, and seemingly never ending energy.

Rio's carnival officially began on Thursday after authorities made the decision in January to postpone the February event when COVID-19 figures skyrocketed with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

Smaller and street carnival bands have been the main carnival attraction outside the Sambadrome.  In Carnival's 2020 edition, just before COVID-19 reached Brazil, more than seven million people partied in the so-called Street Carnival.