National Aug 30, 2021
Chiba halts school visits to Paralympics after teachers' COVID-19 cases
The prefecture overruled the city after it said it would continue with the Paralympic visits with appropriate safety measures despite the cases.
National Aug 25, 2021
More schools in Tokyo cancel Paralympic plans even as Games go on for some students
by Kanako Takahara
Over 20,000 students from across the capital are still expected to watch events in person, but most schools in Tokyo have canceled visits to competition venues.
National Aug 15, 2021
Across the country, serious cases grew by 42 from Saturday to 1,563, while 10 new deaths were reported.
National Aug 13, 2021
Tokyo area COVID-19 outbreak exacerbated by medical staff shortages
by Ryusei Takahashi
The Tokyo government has prepared 6,240 rooms across 16 empty hotels for nonsevere patients, but only about 1,800 can be utilized with the staff currently on hand.
National Aug 13, 2021
COVID-19 tracker: Nationwide daily tally tops 20,000 for the first time
Japan's number of severely ill COVID-19 patients hit a record 1,478, rising 74 from the day before.
National Aug 12, 2021
Tokyo's hospitals under strain as latest COVID-19 wave hits older people harder
by Ryusei Takahashi
Infectious disease experts advising the capital said Thursday that numbers of severely ill patients are rising fast, and that maintaining the health system will soon become difficult.
National Aug 11, 2021
Prefectural government officials are calling for stronger measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, including shutdown requests for large-scale commercial facilities.
National Aug 4, 2021
Rise in COVID-19 cases across Japan takes toll on public health centers
by Magdalena Osumi
A policy shift limiting hospitalizations to severe cases is threatening to pile even more pressure on health centers, which are already seeing resources stretched to their limits.
National Aug 2, 2021
Japan expands COVID-19 state of emergency to Osaka and areas around Tokyo
The government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has added Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Osaka prefectures to areas under the emergency from Monday through Aug. 31.
National Jul 30, 2021
Japan's emergency expanded even as measure loses impact and support
by Satoshi Sugiyama and Ryusei Takahashi
With the latest measure, the Suga administration, well aware of the public’s virus fatigue, wants to buy time to vaccinate as many people as possible to push cases downwards.
National Jul 29, 2021
Japan prepares to expand state of emergency as infections surpass 10,000
by Ryusei Takahashi
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to announce Friday evening that the measure will be widened to Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures.
National Jul 28, 2021
Prefectures near Tokyo to seek COVID-19 state of emergency
by Linda Sieg
Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures are currently under looser quasi-emergency restrictions but are seeing infections spike like in the capital.