Coronavirus outbreak updates: May 14, 2020

• Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League said Thursday its teams can admit up to 2,000 fans to games from Friday while most of the world's sports remain idled by the new coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• Japan's entry ban to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus will be expanded to include Mexico and 12 other countries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday.
  
  
• Japan's partial lifting of a state of emergency appears to suggest that its approach to fighting the novel coronavirus based on requests for cooperation rather than a hard lockdown has so far paid off.
  
  
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday lifted a state of emergency for 39 of the country's 47 prefectures ahead of its planned expiration at the end of the month, as the spread of the novel coronavirus in these areas has been kept in check.
  
  
• Japanese residents on Thursday expressed hope that their lives will soon return to normal  after a national state of emergency declared over the novel coronavirus pandemic is lifted for 39 out of the country's 47 prefectures.
  
  
• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday the government aims to enact a second extra budget to finance additional steps to ease the impact of the coronavirus pandemic before the current Diet session ends on June 17.
  
  
• The Japanese government is considering replenishing capital of businesses hit hard by the new coronavirus pandemic through subordinated loans and preferred shares, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
  
  
• The Japanese government decided Thursday to lift a state of emergency for 39 of the country's 47 prefectures where the novel coronavirus is currently not spreading widely ahead of the measure's planned expiry at the end of this month.
  
  
• Face masks embroidered with traditional designs of Japan's indigenous Ainu people to ward off evil have gained sudden popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic after the country's top government spokesman wore one in a televised press conference.
  
  
• The novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic can be transmitted between domestic cats even though infected cats may not show any symptoms, according to a research team working in the Japanese capital and Wisconsin.
  
  
• With the global sports calendar largely on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, professional athletes are showing fans their skills are to some extent transferrable to the virtual world.
  
  
• The U.S. government on Wednesday issued a warning to research organizations in the country that their data related to vaccine and treatments of the novel coronavirus may be targeted by hackers affiliated with the Chinese government.

TOKYO -

• New Zealand on Wednesday lifted its state of national emergency, with the government citing the decreasing numbers of new COVID-19 cases.

• Toshio Suzuki, a producer of Studio Ghibli, deftly draws Totoro, one of the most beloved anime characters in the world, as part of a project by his hometown Nagoya to keep schoolchildren entertained while stuck at home during the state of emergency in Japan amid the coronavirus epidemic.

• Reusable cloth masks that are cooled and sold in vending machines are proving popular in northeastern Japan amid growing fears that wearing masks to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in the summer could cause breathing difficulties.
  
  
• The Japanese government is considering adding Aichi, Kyoto and Fukuoka to the list of areas set to see a lifting of the state of emergency declared over the novel coronavirus pandemic, possibly allowing people in 39 of the country's 47 prefectures to live with fewer constraints, officials said Wednesday.
  
  
• The Federation of Inochi no Denwa, comprised of some 50 suicide prevention organizations employing some 6,000 counselors across Japan, said the number of incoming calls its members have received has soared since the government declared a state of emergency last month urging people to avoid physical contact as much as possible.
  
  
• A sumo wrestler from the sport's fourth tier, died early Wednesday morning due to multiple organ failure caused by the novel coronavirus, the sport's body said. He was 28.
  
  
• A group of about 20 restaurants in Yokohama's Chinatown started a drive-through service Wednesday as part of efforts to retain customers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.