Japan's health ministry has suggested that many women in the country may have opted out of pregnancy due to the coronavirus epidemic.
The ministry says the number of pregnancies reported across the country from January to July fell 27,806, or more than 5 percent, from a year earlier, to 513,850.
A survey of schools in Japan shows that more than 10 percent of them had students who were absent to prevent coronavirus infection.
The Japan Teachers' Union issued a report on the survey conducted between late August and mid-September -- the period just after summer break. A total of 1,152 schools from elementary to senior high as well as those for special needs responded.
Torrential rain in western Japan has left dozens of hospitals and welfare facilities flooded, without power, or lacking water.
The health ministry says, as of 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, at least 23 hospitals were affected by flooding, power outages, and disrupted water supplies in the southwestern prefectures of Kumamoto, Fukuoka and Kagoshima, as well as in the western prefecture of Shiga. Officials say water trucks have been sent to the areas. They also say patients are being moved to nearby facilities.
Torrential rains in Japan's southwestern region of Kyushu have left dozens of hospitals and other facilities inundated or without power or water.
Japan's health ministry says at least 22 hospitals in Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Fukuoka prefectures were flooded or had no electricity or water as of 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Japan's education minister says the government has asked education boards with reported coronavirus cases to temporarily close schools.
Koichi Hagiuda told reporters on Tuesday that education boards of Hokkaido in northern Japan and Chiba City near Tokyo have been told to take this preventive measure.
The coronavirus outbreak is increasingly weighing on Japanese companies that do business in China.
Toyota Motor has decided to further postpone the resumption of operations at its factories in four cities, including Tianjin and Guangzhou. They will remain closed at least until February16 .