Here are the latest updates from Japan and beyond on the coronavirus outbreak:
Photo taken on Feb. 4, 2021, at Fujita Health University Hospital in Toyoake, central Japan, shows a container housing an automatic PCR testing system, unveiled to the media the same day. The private medical university will introduce by March the high-speed coronavirus testing robot, capable of checking 2,500 people per day, with its test result for each person requiring only 80 minutes. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
As of 11 p.m., Friday, Feb. 5
- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga apologized Friday for the health ministry's failure to discover a technical glitch that has rendered its smartphone app for COVID-19 contact tracing useless for Android users since September last year.
- Taiwan will be among the first recipients internationally of the first round of COVID-19 vaccines distributed by a platform co-led by the World Health Organization to ensure equitable global access, local media reported on Friday.
- Britain's AstraZeneca Plc said Friday it has formally filed a request for Japan's health ministry to approve its novel coronavirus vaccine, making it the second drugmaker to do so after U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.
As of 11 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 4
- A Japanese comedian has decided not to take part in this year's Olympic torch relay, saying remarks by the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee to hold the Summer Games in any state of the coronavirus pandemic are "incomprehensible."
- An expert from the World Health Organization tasked with tracing the origins of the novel coronavirus in China has argued it is difficult to imagine it was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, Russia's state-run media reported Thursday.
- With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled to open a year from Thursday, concerns are growing over another wave of novel coronavirus infections in China, along with the threat of a games boycott by some countries over human rights issues.
- Many nonregular workers at large companies in Japan have not received compensation from their employers despite being forced to take leave amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, prompting Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to vow Thursday to end such discriminatory treatment.
- A scaled back Sapporo Snow Festival opened online Thursday, revealing the four ice statutes featured in this year's coronavirus pandemic-hit event, normally one of Japan's largest winter celebrations.
- The number of crimes recorded in Japan in 2020 hit the lowest level in the postwar era for the sixth straight year, with a sharp decline in street crime as people stayed home during the coronavirus pandemic, police data showed Thursday.
Members of the World Health Organization's team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic visit a residential area in Wuhan, China, on Feb. 4, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
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)
https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/chiiki_tabunka/tabunka/tabunkasuishin/0000001452.html - 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/ - Tokyo Metropolitan Government hotline
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/contacts
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. (including weekends and holidays)
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"
https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/hotline/
- Available in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese 24 hours a day
050-3816-2787
+81-50-3816-2787 (from overseas) - 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
