(Beijing)
As of 10 p.m., Friday, March 13 (Japan time)
- The Greek Olympic committee said Friday it will suspend the rest of the torch relay in the country for the this summer's Tokyo games, due to concerns over the spread of the new coronavirus.
- Japan enacted a time-limited legal change on Friday enabling Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, if he deems it necessary, to declare a state of emergency to cope with the spread of the new coronavirus.
- A woman has tested positive for the new coronavirus after coming into contact earlier this month with an infected man who had expressed to others that he wanted to "spread the virus," according to a central Japanese city government.
- Major League Baseball joined many other sports leagues in reacting to the coronavirus outbreak by announcing Thursday that it has canceled the rest of spring training and is delaying the start of the season.
- Live music clubs across Japan are struggling financially as a series of events they were scheduled to hold were canceled, particularly after a number of visitors to such venues in Osaka were found to be infected with the new coronavirus.
- The Tokyo stock market faced massive selling Friday morning over global coronavirus fears, with the benchmark Nikkei index briefly tumbling over 1,800 points, the steepest one-day decline since April 1990.
- The Group of Seven industrialized countries on Thursday vowed to continue to cooperate to weather the economic fallout from the new coronavirus, the U.S. Treasury Department said following a call among senior G-7 officials.
- U.S. stocks went into freefall Thursday amid growing fear of the impacts of the new coronavirus on the global economy and daily life, with the Dow skidding almost 10 percent in its largest drop since the Black Monday stock market crash in 1987.
- The Italian government said Thursday that the number of deaths from the new coronavirus has exceeded 1,000 in the country, with more than 15,000 people having tested positive for the virus.
- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested postponing this summer's scheduled Tokyo Olympics for a year amid the global spread of the coronavirus, saying the move would be better than seeing "empty stadiums all over the place.
- The United States on Thursday saw more aggressive steps taken to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, with Broadway performances, Disneyland and other tourist spots shutting down and major sports leagues delaying or pausing their seasons.
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday that Metro Manila will be put under partial lockdown, implementing restrictions and travel suspensions to and from the metropolis to halt the further spread of the new coronavirus.
As of 10:30 p.m., Thursday, March 12 (Japan time)
- Japan's House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would allow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency to deal with the coronavirus outbreak in Japan if needed.
- China's health authorities said Thursday the country has passed the peak of the novel-coronavirus outbreak, as it reported 15 additional infections on the mainland, a new low in daily new cases.
- Textile and chemical product maker Kurabo Industries Ltd. said Thursday it will import and sell in Japan from next week test kits developed by a Chinese firm that can detect new coronavirus in 15 minutes, far shorter than the current method.
- Japan will make preparations to hold the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics as scheduled despite the World Health Organization characterizing a day earlier the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, the top government spokesman said Thursday.
- The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump said it will block the entry of foreign travelers from many European countries for 30 days to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus, while advising its citizens to reconsider traveling abroad.
List of major facilities, events affected by coronavirus in Japan
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 - JNTO's "Japan Visitor Hotline"
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese 24 hours a day
050-3816-2787
+81-50-3816-2787 (from overseas)
http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/content/001328767.pdf - Tokyo Metropolitan Government's hotline
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
0570-550571
- Available via fax for those with hearing impairments
03-5388-1396 - Japan's health ministry hotline
- Available in Japanese only, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
0120-565653 - World Health Organization's "Q&A on coronaviruses"
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
(Tokyo)