TOKYO: The Japanese government presented a plan to relax event restrictions aimed at preventing coronavirus infections, at a meeting of a panel of experts on Friday.

The plan calls for allowing large-scale events including professional baseball and soccer matches to have audiences of up to 50 pct of venue capacity.

The government will implement the plan on Sept. 19 through the end of November and then review it to decide whether to keep it in place.

On its Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign, the government sought opinions from the experts on its plan to add trips to and from Tokyo to the program next month.

The government will make a final decision on Tokyo’s addition after monitoring coronavirus cases through the end of September, Yasutoshi Nishimura, economic revitalization minister in charge of its coronavirus responses, said at a press conference.

The experts proposed excluding prefectures with a spike in coronavirus cases from the campaign.

The government has loosened its event restrictions in stages since it lifted a state of emergency over the coronavirus epidemic in May. In the face of a spike in infections in July and August, however, the government twice postponed a loosening of the restrictions initially set for Aug. 1.

As the number of new infections has been seen on a downtrend since early this month, the government has been considering revising the current restrictions, which call for avoiding outdoor events attended by over 5,000 people and indoor events with the number of visitors exceeding 5,000 or 50 pct of venue capacity.

The government now plans to impose the audience cap of 50 pct of venue capacity on events where visitors are expected to spread droplets through cheers. Under this restriction, the number of visitors to professional baseball and soccer matches is expected to increase to tens of thousands.

For kabuki and other traditional Japanese entertainment performances, classical music concerts, theatrical plays and other events where spectators are unlikely to spread droplets, the government will allow the number of visitors to reach 100 pct of venue capacity.

JIJI Press