Japan is considering ways to ease coronavirus restrictions for athletes and officials taking part in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for next year.

The Games were postponed this year due to the pandemic.

Japan's education ministry says 18 clusters of coronavirus infections have occurred at schools since they reopened in June after a nationwide closure.

The ministry says 1,166 students from elementary to senior high schools were infected with the virus during the period through the end of August. The number of teachers and staff infected was 194. And 83 children and staff at kindergartens were also infected.

The Tokyo Metropolitan government says it confirmed 141 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday.

The daily tally was three digits for the ninth straight day.

The government of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward has started classifying restaurants and bars in terms of their preventive measures against the coronavirus.

The ward provides two types of stickers, Class I or Class II, for businesses to display and lists their names on its website.

A group of Japanese experts has come up with measures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading from nightlife districts to other areas.

The experts made proposals at Monday's meeting of a government panel on the coronavirus response.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide says the government will continue to do its best to contain the coronavirus and protect people's lives and health.

Suga said the government has been dealing with the challenge of containing the outbreak since January. He said it will continue to work hard to prevent the explosive increase in infections that has been seen in the US and some European countries.

Major mobile phone companies in Japan are using artificial intelligence in disinfecting efforts to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Telecommunications firm KDDI launched the new system on Tuesday, which was developed by a startup company. The event was held at its "au" mobile phone outlet near the Ikebukuro railway station in Tokyo.

There are growing concerns about the long-term spread of coronavirus infection in Africa. The number of confirmed cases on the continent has topped 1 million. Japan has been helping Africa deal with the pandemic.

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research is located in Ghana. The Institute was founded more than four decades ago with Japanese aid.

Japanese researchers say they think the coronavirus continued to spread undetected in Japan after the outbreak was thought to have been contained in May.

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases earlier this week released the outcome of its detailed genetic analysis of the coronavirus. The samples were taken from people who contracted the virus in Japan to assess how it had spread across the country.

Experts advising Japan's government on the coronavirus plan to set up a series of indexes to help local authorities gauge the spread of the outbreak in their regions.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on Thursday that unlike in April, it is not currently necessary to declare a state of emergency.

The Osaka prefectural government in western Japan says it will launch research into whether gargling with medicine could reduce the amount of the coronavirus in saliva, making the person less infectious.

Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi on Tuesday cited a recent study that indicated gargling with the mouthwash may help reduce coronavirus infections.

The number of seriously ill coronavirus patients in Japan stood at 90 on Thursday. The figure has tripled in the past three weeks.

By prefecture, Tokyo had the highest number at 22, followed by 16 in Osaka and 10 in Kanagawa.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials say they expect to confirm more than 460 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday.

This would be the first time the daily tally for the capital has exceeded 400. Tokyo confirmed 367 new infections on Thursday.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials say they expect to confirm more than 400 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday.

This would be the first time the daily tally for the capital has exceeded 400.