Fireworks light up the night sky in Nagoya, central Japan, on Aug. 11, 2020. To avoid attracting crowds amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the fireworks were displayed without prior notification. (Kyodo)

 

As of 10:50 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 12 (Japan time)

• The Asian Football Confederation on Wednesday postponed World Cup qualifying matches scheduled for October and November until next year due to the coronavirus pandemic
  
  
• Japan reported over 970 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, as urban centers including Tokyo and Osaka continued to see high levels of infection.
  
  
• The J-League has postponed Wednesday's Levain Cup match between Sagan Tosu and Sanfrecce Hiroshima after two members of the Sagan organization, including one player, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
  
  
• Tokyo's population has swollen over the years as young people from the regions have been drawn to the big city, but the tide may be turning as perceptions of work and urban life change in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

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

• President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia has become the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, and that one of his daughters has already been inoculated.
  
  
• Conforming to social norms is the primary motive for Japanese people wearing face masks during the novel coronavirus pandemic, survey results recently showed, dismissing the oft-touted reason that wearers are putting them on to protect themselves and others.
  
  
• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said four new cases of coronavirus were confirmed late Tuesday, ending the country's streak of 102 days without community transmission.
  
  
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former director general of the World Health Organization who oversaw the U.N. agency's response to the SARS crisis between 2002 to 2003, criticized the United States for being "counterproductive" during the novel coronavirus pandemic and leading an "assault" on multilateralism.
  
  
• A court found a 38-year-old man guilty Tuesday for obstructing business at a central Japan town hall in April by acting like a person infected with the novel coronavirus and attempting to spread it to workers.
  
  
• The Philippine government needs to do more than divide society and demonize journalists and opposition leaders as it seeks to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Maria Ressa, award-winning Philippine journalist and CEO of news site Rappler, recently told Kyodo News.
  
  
• Tokyo confirmed an additional 188 coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the metropolitan government said.
  
  
• Sagan Tosu manager Kim Myung Hwi has tested positive for coronavirus, the J-League first division side said Tuesday.
  
  
• Ninety-one people at a high school in the western Japan prefecture of Shimane have tested positive in recent days for the novel coronavirus in a cluster outbreak centered on the boys' soccer team, according to local authorities.
  
  
• The number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide has surpassed the 20 million mark, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University of the United States.

• Some mothers are worried about transmitting the novel coronavirus to their newborns during nursing, after it was reported in Japan that a mother's breastmilk tested positive for the virus causing COVID-19.　Medical organizations differ on how to tackle the issue, although at least one doctor is urging calm, arguing that there is no evidence of a child being infected through breastfeeding.

Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - August 1-7

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Children take part in watermelon splitting, a popular summer game in Japan, at Kasai Rinkai Park in Tokyo amid scorching summer heat on Aug. 11, 2020. (Kyodo)

 

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