Coronavirus outbreak updates: Nov. 25, 2020

As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 25

• Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Wednesday the metropolitan government will request once again that restaurants serving alcohol shorten their operating hours for about three weeks starting this weekend in response to a recent resurgence in coronavirus infections.
  
  
• Japan's new ambassador to China, Hideo Tarumi, will be quarantined for two weeks in his residence in Beijing as ordered by the Chinese government, Japanese Embassy officials said Wednesday.
  
  
• Chinese authorities warned doctors, who responded to the novel coronavirus in the early stage of the outbreak in Wuhan, that they could be punished for espionage if they revealed what went on during the period, local sources said Wednesday.
  
  
• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday defended his government's decision to continue its economy-boosting travel subsidy campaign, repeating his claim that there is no evidence it caused the nation's recent coronavirus resurgence.
  
  
• The Dow on Tuesday topped the 30,000 threshold for the first time as investors grew optimistic about the economic outlook following the start of the transition of power from U.S. President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden and amid reports of progress toward COVID-19 vaccines.

As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 24

• Japan and China agreed Tuesday to start allowing mutual business trips without observing a 14-day quarantine period before the end of the month, a major easing of coronavirus-necessitated travel restrictions, as part of efforts to help the world's second- and third-largest economies recover.
  
  
• The total volume of China's trade with North Korea plunged to its lowest level in October, foreign affairs experts said Tuesday, underscoring how the North Korean economy has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Tuesday she expects next summer's postponed Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to serve as a model for games taking place after the novel coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• The CEO of Australian airline Qantas Airways Ltd. has proposed that once a coronavirus vaccine becomes widely available, passengers on international flights be required to show proof they are vaccinated prior to travel.
  
  
• The Japanese government does not plan to ask schools to close despite the recent countrywide surge of daily novel coronavirus infections to record levels, the education minister said Tuesday.
  
  
• Japan will exclude the popular tourist destinations of Sapporo and Osaka from its domestic travel subsidy campaign for three weeks following a recent resurgence in coronavirus cases in the two cities, senior government officials said Tuesday.
  
  
• Japan is considering setting up a consulate within two years in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was initially detected late last year, a diplomatic source said Monday.