Coronavirus outbreak updates: March 4, 2021

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

As of 11 p.m., Thursday, March 4

• Up to 10,000 spectators will be admitted for games at this month's prestigious spring invitational high school baseball tournament, organizers announced Thursday.
  
  
• Over 230 cases of highly infectious variant strains of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in 19 of the 47 prefectures in Japan, government data showed Thursday, with health experts warning of a potential "fourth wave" of infections should they continue to spread across the country.
  
  
• The number of domestic violence consultations in Japan reached a record 82,643 in 2020, the highest since a law against spousal violence took effect in 2001, police data showed Thursday, as people spent more time at home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  
• With more people teleworking in Japan amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, some are demanding action to ensure employees can refuse phone calls and emails on their days off to clarify the blurred boundaries between personal and professional life.
  
  
• With less than five months until the start of the Tokyo Olympics, Japan still faces many unanswered questions about how to hold the world's biggest sporting event amid the coronavirus pandemic, one major concern being whether spectators will be admitted.

As of 11 p.m., Wednesday, March 3

• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday he is considering extending the COVID-19 state of emergency covering the Tokyo metropolitan region by about two weeks as the situation has not improved sufficiently to end it on the weekend as scheduled.
  
  
• Governors in the Tokyo metropolitan area are considering asking Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to extend the COVID-19 state of emergency by about two weeks as the decline in new infections has slowed, sources with knowledge of the plan said Wednesday.
  
  
• The United States is on track to secure enough vaccine supply for every adult in the country by the end of May, two months earlier than expected, President Joe Biden said Tuesday.

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