Here are the latest updates from Japan and beyond on the coronavirus outbreak:
As of 11 p.m., Friday, Oct. 9 (Japan time)
- Next year's Tokyo Marathon will be held on Oct. 17 instead of March as originally planned, while the 2022 event will be staged five months later on March 6, the Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced Friday.
- China said Friday that it has joined an international framework designed to guarantee equitable global access to potential vaccines for the new coronavirus, becoming the biggest economy to support the initiative to date.
- The campaigns of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Thursday proposed postponing the next planned debate by a week to Oct. 22, instead of seeing the event switched to a virtual format in the wake of Trump's coronavirus infection.
- Japan is set to postpone accepting bids for the hosting of casino resorts to be newly constructed under the country's liberalized gambling laws, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
As of 11 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 8 (Japan time)
- Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Thursday that Japan will contribute more than $130 million to an international framework to ensure that developing countries have fair access to coronavirus vaccines.
- Japan is set to conditionally exempt business travelers and returnees from the 14-day quarantine policy currently imposed on all overseas arrivals to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, government sources said Wednesday.
- Republican Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic rival Sen. Kamala Harris clashed Wednesday over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic and their country's standing on the global stage during their first and only debate ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
- U.S. President Donald Trump has shown no symptoms of the disease caused by the coronavirus for the past 24 hours and his condition is stable, his physician Sean Conley said Wednesday.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - October 3~9
Useful resources for foreign residents and visitors in Japan
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government's "Tokyo Coronavirus Support Center for Foreign Residents (TOCOS)" multilingual hotline
- Available in Simple Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepali, Indonesian, Tagalog, Thai, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Khmer, and Burmese, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays except national holidays.
0120-296-004 (toll free) - AMDA Medical Information Center's "Multilingual Consultation Service"
- Available in Simple Japanese and English, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Also available in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese on designated weekdays. Check schedule here.
03-6233-9266 - Tokyo Metropolitan Government's COVID-19 info
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/flow/ - Tokyo Metropolitan Government 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 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 - 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