Coronavirus outbreak updates: Nov. 24, 2020

Here are the latest updates from Japan and beyond on the coronavirus outbreak:

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.

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As of 10 p.m., Monday, Nov. 23

• Japan is preparing to suspend its "Go To Travel" subsidy program to areas including popular tourist destination cities Sapporo and Osaka, given the high number of novel coronavirus cases there, government sources said Monday.