The Ministry of Health explains why Serie A stadium attendances were cut to just 5,000. ‘We need to limit large congregations of people’ during the latest COVID-19 wave.
The attendances never did go back to 100 per cent capacity after the initial lockdown in March 2020, reaching a maximum of 75 per cent.
That was cut back down to 50 per cent after Christmas and from January 16 to February 5, it will be a maximum of 5,000, regardless of the size of the stadium.
“We need to limit large congregations of people as much as possible,” Undersecretary for Health Andrea Costa told Calcio e Finanza.
“Let us not forget that 50 per cent capacity at San Siro or the Stadio Olimpico in Rome still means 40,000 people.
“These are big numbers when we realise that the Omicron variant is far more contagious. We will evaluate the situation over the next two weeks and hope that in January we can go past the peak of infections so we can enter a more controllable phase.
“The Lega Serie A accepted the call of Premier Draghi to take responsibility and understand the current climate. It was a decision that I share.”
The date was from January 16 so that it would allow the Supercoppa Italiana between Inter and Juventus to still have 50 per cent capacity at San Siro on Wednesday.
Sottosegretario alla salute, #Costa: ‘Superato picco contagi faremo il punto sugli stadi. In 40mila a San Siro…’ https://t.co/TYDBaq099F pic.twitter.com/wCIyvx1bit
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) January 10, 2022