The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says it confirmed 161 new cases of coronavirus infection on Monday.

It is the first time since August 11 that the daily tally in the capital has fallen below 200.

The scorching heat currently gripping Japan has sent the temperature shooting up to 41.1 degrees Celsius in the central Japan city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

The figure, reached 10 minutes past noon on Monday, ties the country's record high, recorded in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, in July 2018.

Japan's Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is visiting a Tokyo hospital on Monday. One of his secretaries says Abe is having a one-day check-up.

Abe arrived at Keio University Hospital on Monday morning.

Japanese authorities reported 644 new coronavirus cases nationwide on Monday, including 161 in Tokyo.

The total number of cases in Japan now stands at 57,569. That includes cases found during airport quarantine checks, as well as 712 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked near Tokyo earlier this year.

Japan's Cabinet Office says the country's economy saw a historic downturn in the April-June quarter. GDP contracted by the most in 40 years as the pandemic upended the economy.

The Cabinet Office says GDP shrank at an annualized 27.8 percent from the previous quarter in real terms. It's the worst result since comparable data became available in 1980.

The Japanese government is to send nurses to the southern prefecture of Okinawa, where coronavirus infections are on the rise.

Health State Minister Hashimoto Gaku met Governor Tamaki Denny on Sunday in Okinawa.

The annual bonfire festival in the city of Kyoto was held on a much smaller scale on Sunday to avoid large crowds amid the coronavirus outbreak.

"Gozan Okuribi" takes place on August 16 to send off the ancestral spirits who are believed to return home during the Bon holidays.

Japan's Cabinet Office will announce preliminary data on gross domestic product in the April-to-June quarter shortly before 9 a.m. on Monday.

Many surveys conducted by private-sector research companies attribute a record shrinkage in the second quarter to the coronavirus.

A South Korean coast guard ship has ordered a Japanese coast guard vessel to end a survey it is conducting in Japan's exclusive economic zone off the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki.

The Japan Coast Guard, or JCG, says the South Korean ship radioed the demand shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday when the Japanese vessel was engaged in a survey about 140 kilometers west of Meshima, an islet in Nagasaki's Goto Islands. The JCG says the waters are within Japan's EEZ.

Many parts of Japan endured an intense heat wave on Sunday. Weather officials forecast that the scorching heat will continue on Monday.

The temperature reached 40.9 degrees Celsius in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. That's the country's highest record so far this year.

The operator of the Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground off Mauritius in late July has confirmed that the vessel has split in two.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said it confirmed at 2 p.m. on Saturday, local time, that the Wakashio had broken apart.

Japanese authorities have confirmed that 1,232 new coronavirus cases were reported across the country on Saturday.

The total number of cases in Japan now stands at 55,905. That includes those found during airport quarantine checks, as well as 712 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked near Tokyo this year.

People in the city of Hiroshima, western Japan, have remembered the victims of a series of landslides caused by heavy rain six years ago.

Rain of more than 100 millimeters per hour caused landslides at 166 locations in the city on August 20, 2014, directly or indirectly killing 77 people.

Many summer vacationers in Japan are enjoying "glamping," as luxurious camping experiences allow them to maintain social distancing from others.

"Glamping," which combines the words "glamorous" and "camping," involves comfortable stays in facilities furnished with beds and other amenities, while being surrounded by a rich natural environment.