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コロナ新規感染者数が2日連続で9万人を突破
2歳以上の園児にマスク着用を推奨
東京都：緊急事態宣言の要請基準を変更
東京の中小企業は事業維持のために苦闘
「アベノマスク」再分配に10億円？を否定
病院が母親の名前を伏せて出生届を提出
日本政府：離婚調停の完全オンライン決済を検討
オリンピック開幕：封鎖やボイコット
宇野昌磨：フィギュアスケート団体戦に出場
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New COVID-19 cases top 90,000 in Japan for 2 days in a row.
Japan posted more than 90,000 COVID-19 cases for a second consecutive day on Feb. 3 with the accumulated nationwide total soaring past 3 million.
As of 8:30 p.m., 96,845 cases were confirmed nationwide.
About 40 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Japan during the pandemic have been confirmed since Jan. 1 with the latest wave fueled by the Omicron variant.
Japan aims to have children age 2 or older wear face masks at day care.
A government panel plans to recommend that children age 2 or older wear face masks at day care facilities as a part of measures to prevent them and staff from becoming infected with the coronavirus, a source familiar with the matter said Friday.
As the rapid spread of the omicron variant in Japan continues, health minister Shigeyuki Goto said in a news conference that the new advice for children should be “pushed forward.”
Tokyo changes criteria for requesting state of emergency.
Tokyo on Feb. 3 established new criteria for requesting a COVID-19 state of emergency based on the rate of patients with severe symptoms and characteristics of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
Previously, the metropolitan government considered asking the central government to issue a state of emergency for the capital if the hospital bed occupancy rate reached 50 percent.
Small, mid-sized companies in Tokyo scramble to maintain operations amid omicron spread.
As small and medium-size firms have been confronting risks of suspending their business operations due to employees' infections amid the spread of the omicron variant, companies and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have been making efforts to sustain their operations.
While such firms in Tokyo have been searching for ways to secure workers to substitute for infected personnel, they face more difficulties compared to large companies with many employees.
Minister denies 1-billion-yen cost to redistribute ‘Abenomasks’.
Health minister Shigeyuki Goto rejected a media report that said the government will spend 1 billion yen to redistribute unused and stockpiled “Abenomasks” but would not say what the cost will be.
“It is difficult to present as of now,” Goto said at a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee on Feb. 3. “We do not think it will cost 1 billion yen at this point of time.”
Hospital to submit notification without mom's name for Japan's first 'confidential birth'.
A hospital in this southwestern Japan city decided on Feb. 4 to submit a birth report to the city government without the mother's name for a child delivered in December 2021 to a woman who wanted to give birth in secret. If accepted, this will be the first official case in Japan.
In December 2019, Jikei Hospital in the city of Kumamoto introduced its own "confidential birth" system allowing anonymous births as a way to prevent isolated births.
Japanese government eyes fully online divorce mediation settlements.
The government will submit a bill to the ordinary Diet session as soon as early March that will likely make it possible for the entire divorce mediation process to be conducted via web conferencing.
The bill, which is set to amend a law that governs divorce cases, will allow the intentions of both parties to be confirmed online, with no need for couples to appear before a family court.
China's pandemic Olympics begins, with lockdown and boycotts.
The country where the coronavirus outbreak emerged two years ago launched a locked-down Winter Olympics on Friday, proudly projecting its might on the most global of stages even as some Western governments mounted a diplomatic boycott over the way China treats millions of its own people.
While some are staying away from the second pandemic Olympics in six months, many other world leaders planned to attend the opening ceremony.
Uno shines as team figure skating starts ahead of opening ceremony.
As the host city prepared for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics to be held on Friday night, Shoma Uno and the figure skaters put on quite a show earlier in the day.
Figure skating got underway with the first day of the team event with short program.
Uno, the men’s silver medalist at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, finished second with a personal best of 105.46 points as Japan stayed in contention for its first-ever team medal by ending the day in fourth place with 20 points.
