Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will return to work as his three-day summer break ends Tuesday, during which he remained in the capital and devoted one day to a hospital visit for what his aide called a regular health checkup.

It became the first summer for Abe not to visit his support base of Yamaguchi Prefecture or his vacation home in Yamanashi Prefecture after he returned to power in 2012, following a short first stint in 2006 and 2007.

Abe has told people around him that the virus has forced him to make changes to his routine summer visits, and he is unable to play golf, his hobby, either.