Here are the latest updates from Japan and beyond on the coronavirus outbreak:

A woman wearing a face mask seen next to lord Ganesh idols during the first day of the festival.(SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty/Kyodo)

 

As of 11 p.m., Monday, Aug. 24 (Japan time)

• Hong Kong has restarted discussions with Japan and a handful of other countries over setting up travel bubbles, commerce chief Edward Yau said Monday, given a mutually recognized coronavirus testing mechanism is established.
  
  
• Japan decided Monday to keep limiting the maximum number of spectators at professional sports, concerts and other events to 5,000 until the end of September, although the spread of the novel coronavirus has shown some signs of abating, government officials said Monday.
  
  
• Japan and Myanmar agreed Monday to reopen borders for expatriates as soon as early September relaxing travel restrictions that were imposed to stem the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• More than 2 million people have used Japan's travel subsidy campaign since it kicked off in July in a bid to revive a domestic tourism industry hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the country's top government spokesperson said Monday.
  
  
• Tokyo confirmed an additional 95 coronavirus infections on Monday, marking the lowest daily figure in more than a month, the metropolitan government said.

As of 10 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 23 (Japan time)

• Japan and Laos agreed Sunday to allow expatriates to resume traveling as early as September, provided they stay home for 14 days after entering their respective countries as part of measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
  
  
• Over 70 percent of disabled Japanese athletes aiming to compete in next summer's Tokyo Paralympics are worried about pursuing their sports due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.
  
  
• The Tokyo metropolitan government on Sunday reported 212 new cases of the novel coronavirus, topping 200 for the fourth straight day.
  
  
• India reported Sunday that its coronavirus cases have topped 3 million, a sign the world's second-most populous country is struggling to slow the spread of the virus.
  
  
• The executive chairman of China's Trip.com Group Ltd., Asia's biggest online travel agency, has said he wants to see Japan and China reopen their borders to each other for leisure travel "later this year," projecting a strong recovery in tourism demand despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - August 15~21

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A musician wearing a face mask to follow sanitary protocols against Covid-19 plays songs to customers during a working day at Salon Tenampa on August 22, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico.(Getty/Kyodo)

 

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