Coronavirus outbreak updates: Jan. 20, 2021

As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 20

• Japan will receive an additional supply of coronavirus vaccine doses for 12 million people from Pfizer Inc., the government said Wednesday, as the U.S. pharmaceutical giant's vaccine is likely to gain approval for inoculation on Feb. 15.
  
  
• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday that Japan aims to start coronavirus vaccinations "as soon as possible," as it struggles to contain the spread of the virus and concerns over the strain on the medical system are growing.
  
  
• The Japanese government has agreed with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to receive a supply of the drugmaker's novel coronavirus vaccine sufficient for 72 million people within this year, the health ministry said Wednesday.
  
  
• West Japan Railway Co. said Wednesday it will place part of its workforce on temporary leave in February, targeting 27,500 employees to cope with a slump in travel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• Foreign visitors to Japan in 2020 plunged 87.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the biggest rate of decline since 1964 when comparable data became available, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday, as the coronavirus pandemic dented travel demand and travel restrictions were imposed.
  
  
• The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy-setting meeting Wednesday to assess damage to the economy from a fresh state of emergency over the novel coronavirus amid expectations that monetary easing will be maintained.
  
  
• Keith Mills, deputy chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games, told the BBC Tuesday he would be preparing for cancellation if he was in charge of the Tokyo Games.

As of 11 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19

• The Shizuoka prefectural government issued a virus emergency alert Tuesday, a day after three cases of infection with a new coronavirus variant were confirmed in the central Japan prefecture.
  
  
• A 49-year-old man has been arrested for refusing to vacate a toilet cubicle after he was disqualified from taking Japan's standardized university entrance exams for not covering his nose with a face mask, despite receiving multiple warnings, police said Tuesday.
  
  
• Japan's top government spokesman said Tuesday that the widespread distribution of coronavirus vaccines is not a prerequisite for going ahead with this summer's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
  
  
• An independent panel commissioned by the World Health Organization criticized China and the U.N. health agency for delays in their initial response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a report it published Monday.