The Japanese government plans to offer subsidies to universities and research institutes that allow their equipment to be used for PCR tests.
The education and science ministry says that as of early August, 71 university hospitals and 27 universities and research institutes across the country had equipment that would allow up to 4,400 PCR tests to be conducted per day.
The Japanese government will expand the scope of a subsidy program to help small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Owners of businesses that opened between January and March of this year will be eligible for the program which provides up to about 19,000 dollars in subsidies. Some freelance workers have also been included for the first time and may be eligible for up to 9,000 dollars.
The Japanese government has decided it will not to give subsidies this fiscal year ending March to a university where a large number of foreign students have gone missing.
Tokyo University and Graduate School of Social Welfare has lost contact with more than 1,600 foreign students, including enrollees from Vietnam and Nepal, over the past three years.