The government plans to partially ease event caps and allow certain events to be held at full capacity, while also strengthening testing in nightlife districts, according to an outline of new measures against the novel coronavirus.
The government is envisaging new measures to strike a balance between preventing infections and promoting economic activities. It intends to officially decide on the plans after a subcommittee meeting on Friday.
To strengthen steps against the virus in nightlife districts, the government is considering setting up testing stations in entertainment districts in cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka, where clusters tend to occur. The system is intended to enable mainly employees and customers of cabaret bars, host clubs and other establishments where services are offered in close-contact settings to take virus tests swiftly. The government also plans to advance other efforts such as giving businesses advice on virus countermeasures and calling for staff training.
The virus is believed to have spread across the nation since July because a resurgence could not be brought under control in Tokyo's Kabukicho district. In light of this, the government intends to intensively implement measures in nightlife areas to prevent the virus spreading from there.
As infections could become rampant nationwide in the autumn and winter, the government is accelerating work to draw up specific measures by setting up a working group under the subcommittee.
Regarding event capacity, the government plans to relax restrictions on Sept. 19, depending on the scale and characteristics of an event, as the infection situation has improved.
If a venue has a capacity of 5,000 people or less, events in which audience members are unlikely to call out, such as classical concerts and plays including kabuki performances and musicals, will be allowed to be held at full capacity, according to the government plan. For venues with capacities of 5,000 to 10,000, the upper limit will still likely be 5,000.
On the other hand, the government intends to maintain the restrictions on events such as live music shows where audience members call and shout, keeping venue capacity at 50%.
As for large-scale events that could have more than 10,000 spectators, such as professional baseball and J.League soccer games, the government plans to scrap the cap of 5,000 people and allow such events to be held at up to 50% of venue capacity as long as measures are thoroughly taken against the virus.
Currently, event capacity is strictly capped at 5,000 people or 50% of the venue's capacity. Given this, the number of spectators for events such as professional baseball games has been kept under 5,000. However, some venues will be able to have more than 20,000 spectators under the eased rules. There had been a proposal within the government to set the cap at 10,000 to 20,000.
The current restrictions were supposed to be in place through the end of September, but the government intends to bring the end date forward ahead of a four-day holiday later this month. It plans to maintain the new rules through November.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
