Omicron dims optimism as South America enters pandemic’s third year

Signs of an incipient return to normality have been dashed as case numbers soar but high vaccination rates offer reason for hope

As the pandemic's second, gruelling year drew to a close and Covid rates in Rio de Janeiro plunged to levels unseen since it began, the Brazilian city's health secretary, Daniel Soranz, celebrated a desperately needed respite.

We've been through such painful, difficult months ... this is now a moment of hope," the 42-year-old doctor said last November as carioca life regained some semblance of normality, hospitals emptied and the city's effervescent cultural scene was reborn.