<Jan. 25, 2023>

• Chinese health authorities said Wednesday it confirmed 6.94 million new coronavirus cases on Dec. 22, marking the highest number of daily infections as the country's reversal of its "zero-COVID" policy strategy sparked a massive wave of cases.
  
  
• The Japanese government on Wednesday downgraded its economic outlook for the first time in 11 months, reflecting a fall in exports amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China.

<Jan. 23, 2023>

• Japan's fiscal health has been deteriorating on an "unprecedented" scale after massive spending amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Monday, saying it is crucial to secure fiscal space for the debt-ridden nation in case of future crises.

<Jan. 21, 2023>

• Teachers, students, medical experts and other citizens voiced anxieties Friday over the downgrading of COVID-19's legal status this spring, fearing that the action will remove anti-infection measures that have become an entrenched part of daily lives and heighten infection risks.
  
  
• The weeklong Lunar New Year holidays in China began on Saturday with no COVID restrictions after the country significantly eased its antivirus measures, but the expected large-scale human migration is prompting concern over possible outbreaks in rural areas with less developed health care systems.

<Jan. 20, 2023>

• China said Friday it will allow group tours to resume to 20 countries starting Feb. 6 after it reopened its borders and abandoned quarantine measures earlier this month in a full departure from its strict "zero-COVID" policy, but Japan was not among the destinations.
  
  
• What will change in Japan when the legal status of the novel coronavirus is downgraded to Class 5, on par with seasonal influenza?
  
  
• Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will instruct health ministry officials to begin discussions in spring on downgrading the classification of the coronavirus to the same level as seasonal influenza, a government source said Friday.
  
  
• The number of suicides in Japan in 2022 rose from the previous year, pushed up by the first increase among men in 13 years, preliminary government data showed Friday.

<Jan. 18, 2023>

• Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and some members of his Cabinet will discuss later in the week whether to reclassify the novel coronavirus to the same category as common infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza, government sources said Wednesday.
  
  
• Japanese Emperor Naruhito, in a poem recited at the annual Imperial New Year's Poetry Reading on Wednesday, expressed hope that people's lives disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic will return to normal, touching on the friendship between young brass band members with whom he spoke.

<Jan. 17, 2023>

• With remote work becoming commonplace in Japan since the coronavirus pandemic, companies are seeking ways to have employees interact through "club activities," including in-person gatherings on holidays involving colleagues who have only previously met online.
  
  
• China's economy in 2022 expanded 3.0 percent from a year earlier, with growth battered by the nation's stringent "zero-COVID" policy involving lockdowns that was followed by an explosion of infections after an abrupt departure from it later in the year, government data showed Tuesday.
  
  
• The western Japan city of Kobe on Tuesday marked the 28th anniversary of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that took 6,434 lives, with its first ceremony in three years at a pre-pandemic scale.

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Japan and beyond: Week in Photos - Jan. 14~20

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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)

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