Taiwan: Baseball league to allow 1,000 fans for games

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan has planned to let 1,000 spectators access stadiums for this weekend's games spurring fears of aggravating the coronavirus outbreak.

"WELCOME BACK FANS!!!! We are hoping to allow 1000 fans to our stadiums as early as May 8th!," CPBL said on its Twitter account on Tuesday.

The CPBL added that it thanked all healthcare workers in Taiwan for their efforts against the pandemic.

It has been 24 days since the last case of local transmission of COVID-19 was reported in Taiwan.

To date, 439 COVID-19 cases and six deaths have been reported on the island of 23 million, which China claims as a breakaway province.

On April 12, the CPBL resumed to play league matches in empty stadiums becoming the first professional baseball league to do so.

South Korea's top-tier baseball league, the KBO opened season on Tuesday without the attendance of fans.

A world famous baseball competition, Major League Baseball in the US suspended all games including the training games in 2020 spring and delayed the start of the regular season.