As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 23
- About 18 percent of more than 1,000 universities and other higher education institutions in Japan continued to reduce their in-person teaching to less than half of their total as of October due to the coronavirus pandemic, the education ministry said Wednesday.
- Japan confirmed a new daily record of over 3,200 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as Tokyo and several other areas continue to see an unprecedented spike in infections.
- The novel coronavirus pandemic has been picked as the top domestic news story of 2020 by senior editors of Kyodo News and its member or subscriber newspapers and broadcasters.
- Japan has decided to tighten its border to Britain as it seeks to prevent the spread of a new variant of the coronavirus detected in the European country, the government said Wednesday.
As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 22
- Japan's death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 3,000 on Tuesday amid fears that a recent spike in the number of infections could further squeeze its health care system.
- Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force said Tuesday its top two officers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and will be working remotely under quarantine.
- An apparent surge in unintended pregnancies since April as the coronavirus pandemic forces people to spend more time at home has prompted the health ministry to launch a nationwide study in order to come up with more effective policies to support women.
- Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it will suspend operations at its plants in Britain and France following logistical disruptions caused by the recent border closure related to the discovery of a new strain of the novel coronavirus in England.
- The United States on Monday began offering shots of a second type of vaccine to prevent the coronavirus disease, becoming the first country to put U.S. biotechnology firm Moderna Inc.'s vaccine into practical use.
- Singapore received its first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for COVID-19 on Monday, becoming the first country in Asia to receive the shots.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - December 12~18