The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will open its baseball league regular season on May 5, with five games all being played at 2pm local time behind closed doors.

It is hoped matches will become open to fans if the current COVID-19 situation is containable.

The season was originally due to begin on March 28, before being postponed due to the outbreak.

Now, the KBO aim to play all 144 games of the regular season unless cases start to increase.

To help with the scheduling of the season, the July All-Star Game, which features the best players in the league, has been cancelled and the play-off series has been reduced.

This now means that the one-game wildcard play-off winner will play the third-placed finisher in the regular season, in a reduced best of three games.

In Italy, the baseball and softball seasons in the country will open on June 14, with the option to move the date back to July 12.

So far no decision has been made on whether fans will be able to attend games, according to the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS), who said in a statement that "FIBS will follow the directives of the Government and the Health Authority".

Both of Italy's top flight baseball and softball leagues have 10 teams each and will be split into two groups of five.

The regular season is due to finish between August 8 and 15, and will be followed by play-offs between the top two teams in each group.

It was also announced that FIBS President Andrea Marcon will attend the third-division games between baseball clubs Codogno and Piacenza after the two cities were among the worst hit in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.