Japan Sees Sharp Drop in COVID Cases... Lifts 10,000 Spectator Limit for Sports Events

Pedestrians wearing masks are walking through a shopping street in Nagoya, central Japan. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Japanese government will lift the COVID-19 prevention guideline that limits spectators at large-scale events such as sports games and performances to within 10,000 people starting from the 1st of next month.

According to Kyodo News on the 27th, the Japanese government plans to make this decision on the 28th at the COVID-19 countermeasures subcommittee meeting after consulting experts.

However, the guideline restricting spectators at large-scale events to within 50% of the total venue capacity is expected to be maintained for the time being.

Although the 27 prefectures including Tokyo Metropolis lifted the 'State of Emergency' and 'Priority Preventative Measures' aimed at suppressing population movement at the end of last month, the COVID-19 prevention guideline limiting spectators at large-scale events to within 10,000 people remains in place.

Metropolitan governments including Tokyo also lifted restrictions on restaurant operating hours on the 25th.

This is because the situation has improved, with daily new COVID-19 cases sharply decreasing from a maximum of around 25,000 in mid to late August to around 200 to 300 recently.

According to NHK's tally, as of 6 p.m. on this day, the total number of new daily COVID-19 cases across Japan is 312.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.