The Metropolitan Museum of Art has reduced capacity in the wake of the surge of the omicron COVID-19 variant, the museum announced Tuesday.

In a tweet, the Met Museum said the capacity reductions went into effect Tuesday.

Kenneth Weine, vice president of external affairs and chief communications officer for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, said the museum would be limiting capacity to 10,000 people per day. He said the decision was taken because the Met sees a high amount of visitors this time of year, saying there would be more than 20,000 visitors on a strong holiday day before the pandemic.

"We are taking these measures as the safety of our staff and visitors is our top priority," Weine said. "During the holiday season we enjoy a much larger number of visitors, and per the current circumstances, we are going to limit visitations to roughly half of capacity. These capacity limitations will cause longer lines outside of the museum where we can safely conduct vaccination checks. This will be done so people can safely enjoy the inside of the museum."

In addition, the museum says indoor dining will be closed at the museum starting Thursday.

The Met Museum's guidelines on its website say all visitors ages 12 and up will need to show proof of two vaccine doses starting Dec. 27. Currently, visitors 5 and up must show proof of one vaccine dose in order to be permitted to enter.

Both The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters are closed on Wednesdays.