CHINA / SOCIETY
Beijing set to resume on-site sporting events after a month, as China’s top soccer league ready to embrace spectators again
Published: Jul 12, 2022 04:21 AM
Beijing Photo:VCG
Beijing Photo:VCG


 
Beijing will resume hosting on-site sporting events starting Tuesday, a month after they were suspended due to gathering outbreaks.

Sports events with less than 1,000 people (including staff and spectators) can be held in administrative districts with low risk of COVID-19. For sporting events with more than 1,000 people, organizers will need to report to the government for evaluation, according to an online announcement posted on Monday night by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports.

Sports events will not be held in districts of the city with COVID-19 medium- and high-risk areas, said the announcement.

According to the regulations, people from medium and high-risk areas without valid health codes or unknown itineraries will not be allowed to participate in sports activities.

On June 13, Beijing announced a moratorium on sporting events because of a larger outbreak related to a gathering at a bar . The capital has previously suspended on-site sporting events during cluster outbreaks.

Recently, the Chinese Football Association announced that the Chinese Super League (CSL), the top soccer league of the country, will resume home-and-away games when the season restarts in August, abandoning some pandemic control measures. 

The CSL is also making plans to try to welcome back spectators at the games, league officials said. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the CSL averaged more than 20,000 spectators per game.