Neymar organizes New Year's party for 500 people despite Covid-19 pandemic

Brazil's star footballer Neymar has triggered controversy after organising a huge New Year's Eve party despite the coronavirus pandemic. Acelmo Goes, a columnist for the O Globo newspaper, claimed that Neymar is hosting 500 people for a week-long party at his luxury beachside mansion near Rio de Janeiro that started on Saturday and will last until New Year's Day.

Brazil registered 20,548 new COVID-19 cases in the past day, taking the national count to 7,504,833, the country's health ministry said Monday. The Latin American nation has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, behind only the United States, and the third-largest caseload, surpassed only by the United States and India. 

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populous in the country, has been the hardest-hit. The city has announced over the weekend the prohibition of non-essential activities on Jan. 1-3 to avoid crowds during the New Year holiday.

The footballer's decision to organize party has sparked outrage. Juca Kfouri, who is Brazil's most famous football writers, captured the public anger in a column denouncing the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s “macabre party”.

“Organising such a party is … the most abhorrent insult, it’s an affront to 190,000 grieving families, it’s to dance funk music on the corpses all the way to the grave, it’s to sneer at the health professionals working in hazardous conditions to control Covid-19,” Kfouri fumed.

Representatives for Neymar denied the rumors, releasing a statement saying there would be "no party" in Neymar's villa. But CNN Brasil said it had confirmed the event was taking place with one of the samba groups hired to perform.

The organizers of the event also confirmed the party, claiming it was following “all health guidelines established by government entities”. The group, whose website promises “inexplicable experiences and unforgettable encounters”, claimed the party would involve approximately 150 guests, not the 500 cited in media reports.

Neymar has allegedly even installed soundproofing equipment to try to avoid bothering his neighbors. Also mobile phone of the guests' likely to be confiscated on the door to prevent any evidence finding its way onto social media