Coronavirus outbreak update: Dec. 16, 2020

As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 16

• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga apologized Wednesday after facing mounting criticism for participating in two year-end dinner parties despite the government's warnings to the public to refrain from dining in large groups to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
• The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged 97.7 percent in November from a year earlier to 56,700, declining for the 14th straight month, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Wednesday.
  
  
• The Tokyo metropolitan government reported an additional 678 coronavirus infections on Wednesday, a daily record high.
  
  
• Plummeting public support and warnings from experts about a coronavirus resurgence forced Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to temporarily suspend the government's much-touted domestic tourism subsidy program over the New Year holidays.
  
  
• The minister in charge of Japan's response to the novel coronavirus on Wednesday defended the government's nationwide suspension of its travel subsidy program over the New Year holidays, fending off criticism that the move came too late amid a surge in infections across the country.
  
  
• Japan's exports in November fell from a year earlier for the 24th month, marking the longest streak of decline on record as the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on overseas demand continued, government data showed Wednesday.

As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 15

• Japan's Cabinet approved a 21.84 trillion yen ($210 billion) extra budget on Tuesday, bringing its total spending for fiscal 2020 to a record high of 175.69 trillion yen, as it grapples to ensure the coronavirus-stricken economy stays on a recovery track.
  
  
• Japan's tourism ministry said Tuesday it will expand compensation for travel businesses to further help them weather the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, following the government's abrupt decision to suspend a domestic travel subsidy program nationwide amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
  
  
• A facility dedicated to coronavirus patients with serious symptoms opened Tuesday in Osaka, with the Self-Defense Forces as well as other regions of Japan sending nurses to make up for a staff shortage amid a recent spike in infections there.
  
  
• The United States on Monday began administering the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, in a much-awaited moment for the country that has suffered the world's highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths.