An alarming rise in COVID-19 cases put greater Tokyo into its second state of emergency on Thursday. The change, which was announced by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, put numerous changes in place to greater Tokyo, including limits on attendance that will affect MMA and kickboxing events.
Attendance at sporting events will be limited to 5,000 people or 50% of a venue if the number of people who can attend is lower than 5,000.
The state of emergency is scheduled to run for a month, ending on February 7th.
The changes will affect Shooto Japan, which is planning to hold a double-header of events on January 31st at the New Pier Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Japan’s kickboxing schedule in January is much busier, as both K-1 Japan and RISE have numerous events scheduled in the month.
The call for a state of emergency comes after the country repeatedly broke its own record for new cases reported in a day. After reporting nearly 6,000 cases within a day on Wednesday, the country reported over 7,000 on Thursday.
The country’s cases have been on an upward trend since early November, where they had been floating around 400 to 700 cases a day.
