Yokohama Stadium to be packed with 27,000 to test virus measures

Oct 16, 2020 | News On Japan

Oct 16, 2020 (Japan Times) - The government will test measures for preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus at events with large numbers of spectators in a trial late this month in a nearly-packed baseball stadium in Yokohama, officials said Thursday.

The three-day trial from Oct. 30 will come as the government considers whether to relax current limits on the number of people allowed to attend sporting and other big events.

Last month authorities raised the limit to 10,000 from 5,000, but retained a ceiling of 50 percent of a venueâ€™s capacity for events with over 10,000 spectators, such as professional baseball games, effective through the end of November.

Holding the trial in Yokohama Stadium was approved by a government subcommittee Thursday, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the fight against the virus, told reporters.

The 34,000-capacity stadium near Tokyo is to be the main venue for baseball and softball events for the postponed Tokyo Olympics next summer.

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