Berlin: German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Thursday called the decision by European football’s governing body UEFA to allow big crowds at Euro 2020 “utterly irresponsible” especially given the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Seehofer told a news conference on Thursday that UEFA's decision seems to have been driven more by commercial considerations, while completely neglecting the more important health concerns, Al Jazeera reports.
Germany has permitted only a limited number of fans into Munich’s stadium whereas London’s Wembley stadium had more than 40,000 spectators during the England vs Germany match.
Seehofer said that "When you see pictures of “people being very close to each other” and “celebrating successes with big hugs”, it is “preordained that this will promote the spread of infections”.
For the semi-finals and final at Wembley, 60,000 spectators are to be admitted despite a sharp rise in coronavirus figures in Britain because of the Delta variant. (UNI)