Here are the latest COVID-19 updates from Japan and beyond:
<April 13, 2022>
- A famous cherry-blossom lane in Osaka that is home to 138 varieties of sakura tree and 335 trees in total reopened Wednesday after a two-year closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
<April 12, 2022>
- Japan and the United States are set to exclude Russian COVID-19 vaccines from a list of items subject to financial assistance when manufactured in developing countries, sources familiar with the plan said Tuesday.
- Around 30,000 foreign students have arrived in Japan since March when the government eased COVID-19 border controls, education minister Shinsuke Suematsu said Tuesday.
- Japan has confirmed its first case of the Omicron XE derivative strain of the novel coronavirus in a woman upon arrival at Narita airport near Tokyo, the health ministry said Monday.
<April 11, 2022>
- Japan's economy still shows some weakness due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it will continue to recover despite a blow from surging commodity prices, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Monday.
<April 10, 2022>
- Tokyo reported 8,026 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, seeing a week-on-week increase for the fourth consecutive day as health experts have warned of another wave of infections.
<April 8, 2022>
- Japan will contribute up to $500 million to U.N.-backed efforts to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday at a leaders' summit held to secure funding to boost the global vaccination rate.
- Japan has no plan for now to resume the entry of foreign tourists to the country but will make a judgment after looking at the COVID-19 infection situation and border control steps taken by other nations, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday.
<April 7, 2022>
- U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has postponed her planned trip to Asia after testing positive for the coronavirus, her spokesman said Thursday.
- Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that there are "signs of a resurgence" in coronavirus infections in Japan, particularly among young people.
- Japan will lift its entry ban on nonresident foreign nationals from 106 countries including Britain, India and the United States starting from Friday, the government said, as part of procedures to gradually ease COVID-19 restrictions.
<April 6, 2022>
- The number of new infection cases with the novel coronavirus in China hit a record high, exceeding 20,000, the health authorities said Wednesday, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the country's radical "zero COVID" policy.
- The Asian Development Bank said Wednesday that developing and newly industrialized Asian economies will grow 5.2 percent in 2022 as they continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but warned of fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - April 2~8
Useful resources for foreign residents and visitors in Japan
- Health ministry call center
COVID-19: 0120-565-653 (toll free)
COVID-19 Vaccines: 0120-761-770 (toll free)
-Interpreters available for English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; for Thai 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; for Vietnamese 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Health ministry's COVID-19 Vaccine Navigation website
https://v-sys.mhlw.go.jp/en/ - 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)