Japan to ease virus rule on Sept.19 to allow more people at events
TOKYO. KAZINFORM - Japan decided Friday to relax a rule limiting the size of crowds at professional sports, concerts and other events from Sept. 19 to expand social and economic activities amid signs nationwide coronavirus cases are moderating in recent days, Kyodo reports.
The government will lift the 5,000-person cap on large events, allowing them to hold up to 50 percent of their capacity, officials said following a meeting of a panel of experts.
Under the current rule, venues for such events are allowed to hold up to 50 percent of their capacity or up to a total of 5,000 people.
As for smaller events with limited human interaction, such as classical music concerts and ballet performances, an attendance cap will be fully scrapped. The restrictions will remain in place for live music events.
Japan's economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura in charge of pandemic response said Friday the new rule will be in place until the end of November.
The government will decide whether to keep the attendance rule in place beyond November after reviewing the trend of virus infections and seasonal spread of influenza.
«We may review the rules if the situation of the pandemic worsens or clusters of infections occur due to easing of the attendance limit,» he said.
Nishimura also said the government plans to include Tokyo in its domestic travel subsidy program from Oct. 1, after having excluded the capital from the campaign since its start in July amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
A final decision on the matter will be made at a later date, he added.
The plan comes a day after the Tokyo metropolitan government lowered its virus alert by one level from the highest of four and decided to end next Tuesday its request for establishments serving alcohol in the capital's central areas to shorten their business hours.