As of 11:50 p.m., Monday, Feb. 15
- A total of 965 daily coronavirus infections were reported in Japan on Monday, coming in below the 1,000 mark for the first time in three months, while the number of deaths related to COVID-19 topped 7,000, a Kyodo News tally showed.
- Japan plans to start inoculating elderly people only after the coronavirus vaccinations for frontline health workers have been administered, possibly delaying the initially anticipated start date for seniors in April, a senior government official said Monday.
- Japan will survey the potential side effects caused by various coronavirus vaccines after a total of 3 million doses are administered to the general public, the health ministry said Monday.
- Japan's advertising giant Dentsu Group Inc. on Monday reported a record net loss of 159.60 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in fiscal 2020, as its mainstay advertising business slumped amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- Japan's economy contracted 4.8 percent in real terms in 2020 from the previous year, the second sharpest contraction on record, reflecting the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Monday.
- National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Saturday the United States has "deep concerns" about the way the early findings were communicated following the World Health Organization's investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
- As Japan prepares to begin COVID-19 vaccinations this week, dry ice manufacturers are scrambling to ensure they can meet the expected surge in demand driven by a need to store the Pfizer Inc. vaccine at an ultra-cold temperature.
- Politically weakened by criticism over his coronavirus response, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is pinning his hopes of remaining in power on the successful rollout of vaccines across Japan.
- The New Zealand government imposed a lockdown for three days in the country's largest city Auckland from midnight Sunday after the discovery of coronavirus infections in a family.
- Japan formally approved Pfizer Inc.'s coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, the first to be greenlit for domestic use, and is set to start inoculating health workers in a matter of days.
- As the Japanese government prepares to roll out novel coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday to fight the pandemic, skepticism in some sections of the public may hamper the effort.