Coronavirus outbreak updates: Feb. 26, 2021

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

As of 11 p.m., Friday, Feb. 26

Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies held a virtual meeting on Friday to discuss ways to ensure an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and maintain support for poor countries through the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and debt relief.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Friday that Japan will lift its COVID-19 state of emergency for six prefectures at the end of this month, but the Tokyo metropolitan area will have to wait for further signs its situation is improving.
The U.S. drug regulator said Thursday it will allow the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. to be transported and stored for up to two weeks at conventional freezer temperatures instead of the ultracold conditions previously required.
Japan will consider resuming its subsidy program aimed at promoting domestic tourism only in some parts of the country even if the current state of emergency over the novel coronavirus is completely lifted, tourism minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said Thursday.

As of 11 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 25

Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday it will slash its hiring of new graduates in fiscal 2022 by 90 percent from the number that joined JAL group companies last spring, as the coronavirus pandemic is expected to continue putting pressure on travel demand.
The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee on Thursday released a set of coronavirus countermeasures for the torch relay, just a month before the start of the nationwide event, ranging from asking fans to applaud instead of shouting along the route to requiring runners to monitor their health.
Golf has surged in its popularity in Japan amid the coronavirus pandemic as a sport that can be enjoyed in the great outdoors, avoiding the "3Cs" of confined spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings people should avoid to reduce the risk of infection.
The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday it will deliver more than 25 million free masks to communities still lacking affordable access to the basic protection against the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan's Olympics minister said Wednesday that coronavirus vaccinations would not be a prerequisite for participation at this summer's Olympics and Paralympics, despite a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal that athletes be inoculated.