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Comic Market 98 Event Canceled Due to COVID-19 Concerns

The Comic Market Committee announced on Friday that it has canceled this year's Comic Market (Comiket 98) dojinshi convention to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The Comic Market 98 Catalog (pictured below) will still go on sale on April 11, and the committee asks people to purchase the catalog to support the event in the future. However, the wristbands used as entry passes for the event will no longer go on sale on the same day, nor the DVD-ROM edition of the catalog originally slated on April 18.

The committee added that it cannot confirm if the Tokyo Big Sight venue will be available this December, or in July and August of 2021, since the Tokyo Olympics has been postponed from this summer. "Plans for Comic Market 99 (Winter 2020) will be announced separately, once the schedule and venue have been confirmed."

The committee announced last week that it may postpone or cancel the event altogether.

The event was scheduled to take place at Tokyo Big Sight from May 2 to May 5. The committee already rescheduled the convention three months earlier than usual to accommodate the 2020 Summer Oympics.

Yuruyuri manga creator Namori stated on her Twitter account earlier this month that she will forego attending Comiket 98 due to her own concerns about COVID-19.

Tokyo confirmed 47 new cases of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Thursday — the fourth straight day of record increases. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called for Tokyo residents on Wednesday night to stay at home, and enjoined residents to work from home, and to not go out at night or on the weekend. Tokyo has been issuing policies against large events and gatherings since February 21, but large crowds went to parks citywide this past holiday weekend for the traditional cherry blossom viewing (hanami).

The first reported cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, China in December, and then the disease began to spread in varying rates and intensities across many parts of the globe through incubation in human hosts. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a world health emergency on January 30, and announced on March 11 that it is classifying the outbreak as a pandemic. As of Thursday, the WHO reported that there are 462,684 infected individuals worldwide. 20,834 individuals have died from the disease.

As of Thursday, the WHO reported that Japan has 1,291 cases of COVID-19 with 45 deaths. These numbers do not include the number of cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama. That cruise ship had 712 infected passengers with seven deaths.

Thanks to Dan Kanemitsu for the news tip.

Source: Comiket