As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 18 (Japan time)

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday advised people across the country not to go to work or school if they develop cold-like symptoms.

• Japan Airlines Co. said Tuesday it will reduce a number of flights from Japan to South Korea and Taiwan through late March and further cut services to China due to a drop in passengers in the wake of a new coronavirus outbreak originating in Wuhan.

• The number of new coronavirus infections among passengers and crew of the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo rose by 88 to 542, the government said Tuesday.

• Liu Zhiming, director of Wuhan Wuchang Hospital in the central China city of Wuhan, died Tuesday of the new pneumonia-causing coronavirus, state television reported.
  
  
• Passengers on the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship who test negative will start disembarking Wednesday as scheduled from the vessel quarantined in Yokohama.
  
  
• South Korea will send a presidential plane to evacuate four South Koreans and the Japanese spouse of one of them from the Diamond Princess.
  
  
• With 98 new fatalities, the death toll from the pneumonia-causing coronavirus outbreak in mainland China has reached 1,868, the nation's health authorities said Tuesday.
  
  
• Mongolia's archery team has cancelled an Olympic training camp scheduled in Japan's Aichi Prefecture due to coronavirus concerns.
  
  
• Passengers and crew of the Westerdam cruise ship are now stranded in Cambodia as all airlines refuse to carry them after one disembarked passenger tested positive for the new coronavirus, government sources said.

As of 11 p.m., Monday, Feb. 17 (Japan time)

• The number of cases continued to rise on the Diamond Princess as another 99, including 43 Japanese, were reported, bringing the total to 454 with a few days to go until the end of a two-week quarantine period on Wednesday.
  
  
• Popular Japanese boy band Arashi will forgo a concert scheduled in Beijing in the spring due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus, their agent said Monday.
  
  
• Organizers of next month's Tokyo Marathon said Monday they will allow only elite athletes, including wheelchair racers, to take part in the upcoming pre-Olympic event, as Japan steps up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
  
  
• The Imperial Household Agency said Monday it has canceled a birthday event for Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace scheduled on the weekend due to concern that the public event could contribute to the spread of the new coronavirus.
  
  
• Two U.S. government-chartered planes carrying 328 American citizens who were confined on coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship departed Tokyo from Haneda airport Monday morning.
  
  
• Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel and Italy have said they are preparing to send chartered flights to Japan to evacuate citizens from the vessel, which is quarantined in Yokohama.

Useful resources for foreign residents and visitors in Japan:

• Japan National Tourism Organization's "Guide for when you are feeling ill"
  - Multilingual clinic/hospital search available in English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese
  https://www.jnto.go.jp/emergency/eng/mi_guide.html
  
  
• Japan's health ministry hotline (in Japanese)
  0120-565653 [9 a.m. to 9 p.m.]
  
  
• World Health Organization's "Q&A on coronaviruses"
  https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses