Japan's government is going to send 21.5 million face masks to nursing care and other facilities facing a shortage amid the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Health minister Katsunobu Kato made the announcement on Thursday.
A Japanese Olympian who lives in Greece will receive the Olympic flame in a scaled-down ceremony in Athens because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The ceremony will be held at the Panathenaic Stadium on Thursday.
The number of coronavirus infections in Japan increased to 924 on Thursday, with three new cases confirmed. The data was compiled by local governments and the health ministry.
The figure includes 14 cases confirmed among people who returned from China's Hubei Province on chartered flights.
A Japanese government panel of experts will present its latest views on the country's measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
The outline of the panel's views has been revealed in advance of a briefing that will take place on Thursday evening.
Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido is to lift a state of emergency declared last month in response to the new coronavirus outbreak there.
Governor Naomichi Suzuki told reporters on Wednesday that the three-week emergency period will expire on the following day as planned. He announced the declaration on February 28.
The widow of an ex-finance ministry official, who committed suicide after he was forced to falsify ministry documents, has filed a lawsuit. She is demanding damages from the government and former chief of the ministry's financial bureau, Nobuhisa Sagawa, who allegedly instructed her husband to falsify the documents.
The suit was filed with a court in Osaka, western Japan, on Wednesday, seeking about 110 million yen, or over 1 million dollars.
Japan plans to expand its quarantine measures on Saturday to include people entering the country from most of Europe, Iran and Egypt.
The government said on Wednesday it will start asking both foreign and Japanese nationals from 38 countries to isolate themselves for two weeks in designated places such as homes and hotels.
The Japanese government has announced the it will expand its quarantine measures to include people entering Japan from most European countries, Iran and Egypt.
A trip to Britain by Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako has been postponed due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
The couple was scheduled to visit Britain as state guests for about a week in early May. It was to be their first overseas trip since the emperor's accession to the throne last year.
Japanese researchers say they have learned that a drug used to treat acute pancreatitis may be effective for infections of the new coronavirus.
A team led by Junichiro Inoue, professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science, made the remarks at a news conference on Wednesday.
A Japanese government panel has proposed fresh quarantine measures for foreign visitors and returning Japanese travelers to control the coronavirus outbreak.
The head of the panel, Takaji Wakita, told reporters on Tuesday that the group had submitted the request to the health ministry.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have agreed that their nations will cooperate with the other Group of Seven members in responding to the coronavirus outbreak.
Aso and Mnuchin spoke over the phone on Tuesday.
China's government researchers say they have found the Japanese-developed anti-flu drug Avigan effective in treating patients infected with the new coronavirus and will promote its use.
Zhang Xinmin, director of the National Center for Biotechnology Development, named the drug at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
A Japanese man who was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 19 intellectually disabled people says he will abide by the ruling.
The Yokohama District Court on Monday sentenced Satoshi Uematsu to death for the murders at a care home in Sagamihara, near Tokyo, in 2016. Uematsu worked at the facility before the murders.