Japanese health ministry officials say passengers on the government-chartered flight will receive medical examinations on board.

The passengers will be divided depending on whether they have such symptoms as coughing and fever.

Japan's health ministry says a Chinese woman who visited Hokkaido has been confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus. She is the seventh case of infection in Japan.

The woman in her 40s is a resident of the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province. She came to Japan on January 21 and began touring Hokkaido the next day.

The first chartered plane to bring Japanese nationals back from the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province has left Tokyo's Haneda airport.

The airport in Wuhan, the epicenter of China's new coronavirus outbreak, has been virtually closed, and public transportation systems have been halted. Japanese citizens in the city are having difficulty returning home on their own.

Japan's health minister Katsunobu Kato has announced that two more people have been confirmed infected with the new coronavirus in Japan.

Kato said on Tuesday that one of them has no record of staying in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The person is the first to be confirmed infected despite having no record of staying in Wuhan.

Japan's government says a charter flight will head for Wuhan, China, on Tuesday night to evacuate Japanese expatriates.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi made the announcement earlier in the day. The government will start evacuating all expatriates who wish to leave the city, where the outbreak originated.

Japan plans to dispatch a chartered plane to the Chinese city of Wuhan to repatriate Japanese citizens trapped there due to the coronavirus outbreak as soon as an agreement is reached with China on the flight.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Tuesday that the government is planning to return Japanese nationals who wish to leave the central Chinese city. Suga said his government is coordinating with China to send an All Nippon Airways aircraft to Wuhan to facilitate the evacuation.

A group of experts are urging the Japanese government to take steps to ensure cybersecurity ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The experts for the communications ministry compiled an emergency proposal in a meeting on Monday, amid concerns over a surge in cyberattacks targeting the country during the Games.

Japan's government has added pneumonia caused by a new strain of coronavirus to its list of designated infectious diseases.

The Cabinet approved an ordinance on Tuesday giving the illness the designation under the country's infectious disease and quarantine laws.

The Japanese government decided at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to list infections caused by the new coronavirus as a designated infectious disease.

Japan's government is to add pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus to the list of designated infectious diseases on Tuesday.

Members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet will approve an ordinance giving the illness designations under the country's infectious disease and quarantine laws.

Weather officials say a low pressure system and a cold air mass are bringing snow to some parts of Tokyo and the surrounding areas. They are warning that traffic could be disrupted and roads could become icy.

Twenty-three centimeters of snow had fallen in Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, as of 2 a.m. on Tuesday. Eighteen centimeters were recorded at the same time in Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Brian May, the guitarist for legendary British rock band Queen, visited a historic observatory in Japan while on tour in the country.

The guitarist, who also has a doctorate in astrophysics, visited Kwasan Observatory of Kyoto University in Kyoto City on Monday.

Japan's health ministry says authorities will conduct virus tests at airports and seaports to speed up the process of identifying those infected with the new coronavirus.

Samples from suspected patients are now being sent for testing to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases or public health institutes across Japan. But the ministry sees the need to accelerate the process as infections of the virus spreads.

A Japanese industry group that manages the Kobe beef brand has expressed sadness about the death of US basketball star Kobe Bryant, whose name is said to come from the famous meat product.

Tetsunori Tanimoto of the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association said he was shocked to hear Bryant had been killed in a helicopter accident.