Coronavirus outbreak updates: Jan. 31, 2021

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

As of 10 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 31

A team from the World Health Organization visited on Sunday a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where many people were confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus in the initial stage of the outbreak in late 2019.
Tokyo saw nearly 40,000 new coronavirus cases in January, more than double the previous monthly record infections in December, according to figures released by the metropolitan government on Sunday.
An online meat seller in rural Japan has caught the eye of consumers spending more time at home amid the coronavirus pandemic with her range of domestic-branded beef she sells by the block.

As of 11 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 30

Japan began arrangements Saturday to extend the state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic for up to another month in Tokyo and other areas continuing to see a high number of infections, sources familiar with the matter said.
The use of masks for television personalities on camera is recently garnering debate among the public and entertainment industry in Japan after news anchors on a major broadcaster began wearing them during a program.
Tax-deductible donations to local governments that allow people to receive gifts of local specialties in return have seen a spectacular jump during the coronavirus pandemic, city officials and operators of donation websites say.
Major U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson said Friday that its single-dose experimental vaccine was 66 percent effective in preventing the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in a late-stage global clinical trial.