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TOKYO – Japan on Saturday relaxed a rule limiting crowd sizes at professional sports games, cinemas and other events amid signs of a recent plateau in coronavirus cases nationwide.
Both Nippon Professional Baseball and the J-League soccer held games on Saturday with more than 10,000 spectators after the government lifted the 5,000-person cap on large events, allowing sports bodies to celebrate with up to 50 percent of his capacity.
For small cinemas and theaters that are considered to have a low risk of infection, the 50 percent attendance limit has been removed entirely. T Joy Co., which operates around 20 cinema complexes across Japan, and numerous mini theaters began allowing all seats in venues to be reserved from the first screenings on Saturday.
But major theater chains Toho Cinemas and Aeon Cinema, as well as live show and concert operators, have decided to keep the 50 percent restriction in place for now.
Among professional baseball teams, the DeNA BayStars raised the spectator limit to 16,000 at Yokohama Stadium, the Yomiuri Giants to 19,000 at Tokyo Dome, and the Yakult Swallows to 14,500 at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.
Japan’s economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is also in charge of the pandemic response, said at a press conference on Friday that avoiding 3Cs (confined spaces, crowded places, and close-contact environments) was a requirement. prior to relax restrictions.
“I want (commercial operators) to rigorously apply basic measures to prevent the spread of the virus,” he said.
The government will decide whether to keep the assistance rule in effect beyond November after reviewing infection trends for the novel coronavirus and seasonal influenza.
The Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 220 more cases of coronavirus on Friday, topping 200 for the first time since Sept. 12. The capital’s cumulative total is now 23,828, by far the highest among the 47 prefectures in Japan.
Since mid-August, the number of new cases has been trending downward, with Tokyo confirming 77 daily infections on September 7, the lowest in nearly 2 months. The capital has lowered its coronavirus alert to the second highest level of 4, meaning that “vigilance is needed against a resurgence of the virus.”
Across Japan, the single-day count on Friday passed 570, bringing the total number of infections to around 78,800, including about 700 from the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship that was quarantined off Yokohama in February. The death toll stood at 1,510.
