Annual Halloween festivities in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward are known to attract revelry and rabble-rousing to a degree unseen in a typically docile city. This year — though the atmosphere was noticeably tame compared to previous years — massive crowds gathered Saturday night in the capital’s popular district despite fears that public celebrations during an ongoing pandemic could trigger a cluster of novel coronavirus infections.

In an effort to convince as many people as possible to stay home, Shibuya Ward collaborated with local artists to organize and host a number of online events, including a game in which users can create an avatar and experience a music festival in virtual Shibuya.

But the crowds in real Shibuya on Saturday were sizable. Owing to the incubation period of COVID-19 and the time it often takes for symptoms to appear — if they appear at all — it won’t be clear for at least another week or two whether Halloween celebrations helped the virus spread further.