Coronavirus outbreak updates: March 12, 2021

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

 

As of 11 p.m., Friday, March 12

• The leaders of Japan, the United States, Australia and India are set to hold a virtual meeting Friday to discuss the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries as they step up cooperation to counter China's growing influence.
  
  
• Thailand suspended the use of AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday following reports of blood clots among people who received the vaccine in European countries, according to the Thai public health ministry.
  
  
• Japan is set to receive about 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. across May and June, the minister in charge of vaccination efforts said Friday, enough for nearly half of its population.
  
  
• E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. and Japan Post Holdings Co. have decided to form a capital alliance, sources with knowledge of the matter said Friday, in a bid to meet growing demand for online shopping and home deliveries amid the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co. said Friday it has started manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine of Britain's AstraZeneca Plc in Japan, as reports emerged in some European countries of blood clots in people receiving the vaccine.
  
  
• U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a $1.9 trillion relief package to support businesses and households battered by the coronavirus pandemic, a major legislative win for the administration less than two months old.
  
  
• U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for doubling the production capacity for novel coronavirus vaccines to ensure global access as the world marks a year since the World Health Organization head termed the virus outbreak a pandemic.
  
  
• The French government said Thursday it will remove Japan and six other countries from a travel ban imposed on non-European Union nations since late January to prevent the spread of variants of the novel coronavirus.

As of 11 p.m., Thursday, March 11

• The Chinese Olympic Committee has offered to provide vaccine doses for athletes at this year's Tokyo Olympics and next year's Beijing Winter Olympics, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach revealed Thursday.
  
  
• The Japanese government has decided not to procure insulin syringes intended for diabetes patients to administer COVID-19 vaccinations due to concerns of causing a supply shortage, the minister in charge of the vaccine rollout said Thursday.
  
  
• The Japanese government is making arrangements to allow foreign athletes contracted to professional teams to enter the country after the state of emergency is lifted nationwide, a source with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.
  
  
• The U.S. Congress passed a $1.9 trillion relief package Wednesday to support businesses and households battered by the coronavirus pandemic, handing a major legislative win to President Joe Biden less than two months into his presidency.

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