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Japan sees record daily new COVID-19 cases

Mar 15, 2020 (NHK) - Health authorities in Japan reported 63 new cases of coronavirus infection on Saturday -- the highest daily increase excluding those linked to the cruise ship Diamond Princess.

The officials say the number of cases confirmed in the country reached 773 on Saturday.

The figure does not include 697 people from the US-operated cruise ship or 14 others who returned on chartered flights from China.

Another death was reported on Saturday, raising the tally to 22 in Japan and 7 others from the cruise liner.

The northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido has the most cases at 144, followed by Aichi with 121, Osaka with 102, and Tokyo with 87. Hyogo has 67 and Kanagawa has 50.

The officials say that as of Friday, 46 patients were in serious condition. Fourteen of them were from the ship.

They add that 525 people have left hospitals after recovering.

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As of 10 p.m. on August 4, large and very strong Typhoon No. 13 (Dolphin) was moving west southwest of Chichijima, bringing severe weather to the Ogasawara Islands before an expected approach toward the Daito Islands and Okinawa later in the week.

The death toll from the Kumamoto earthquake has risen to 38, while more than 8,200 people remained in evacuation shelters on August 4, one week after the disaster struck.

Japan's Immigration Services Agency on August 4 released draft guidelines that would tighten the requirements for foreign nationals seeking permanent residency, including new income and pension standards designed to ensure applicants have economic conditions equal to or better than those of Japanese people.

Six airlines, including All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Air Do, will move the baggage check-in deadline for domestic flights at Haneda Airport to 30 minutes before departure from September 1.

The conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel may be entering a more dangerous phase, with Tehran appearing increasingly willing to initiate attacks rather than merely respond to US strikes, while disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz threaten oil and liquefied natural gas supplies worldwide.

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A former nurse has been indicted on a murder charge for allegedly killing a 75-year-old hospital patient by injecting fecal matter into his intravenous drip at a hospital in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.

The operators of cosmetics and apparel stores at Aeon Mall Kumamoto disclosed new details on August 4 about how five employees who had initially evacuated the building later returned inside before being killed in an explosion following the earthquake.

Six boys aged 15 and 16 have been arrested on suspicion of obstructing official duties after allegedly riding motorized bicycles and throwing raw eggs at police officers in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture.

A correctional officer at Kyoto Prison has been indicted on suspicion of agreeing to accept 200,000 yen from three inmates in return for providing them with unspecified favors, raising concerns about staff-inmate relations one year after Japan introduced its new imprisonment system focused on rehabilitation.

A Tokyu train struck a truck that had been forced onto the tracks by a road collision in Yokohama on the morning of August 4, temporarily suspending all services on the Kodomonokuni Line, although none of the roughly 100 passengers and crew aboard the train were injured.

The family of a 22-year-old cosmetics store employee killed in the explosion at Aeon Mall Kumamoto said she had safely evacuated after the powerful earthquake but returned to the building under instructions from her company, calling her death a "man-made disaster."

Kumamoto residents struggling to recover from the magnitude 7.1 earthquake were forced to halt cleanup work on August 3 as the temperature in Kumamoto City reached 40.3 degrees Celsius, adding a second life-threatening disaster to communities already devastated by the quake.

A 36-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a male relative in the abdomen with a small chainsaw in a parking lot in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture.