Nikkei Asia is tracking the spread of the coronavirus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Cumulative global cases have reached 136,746,261, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 2,948,328.
For more information about the spread of COVID-19 and the progress of vaccination around the world, please see our interactive charts and maps.
Wednesday, April 14 (Tokyo time)
4:00 a.m. India's state of Maharashtra, an economic powerhouse that is home to Mumbai, will impose restrictions on business and social activity for 15 days until April 30 to combat rising coronavirus infections.
The order from the chief minister affects all factories, except some involved in exports and essential products. Deliveries for online orders will also be restricted to essentials.
Tuesday, April 13
9:20 p.m. U.S. health officials have recommended a temporary halt in coronavirus vaccinations with the single-shot Johnson & Johnson jab, following reports of recipients developing a blood clot disorder.
An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to hold a meeting on Wednesday to review the six reported cases, and the Food and Drug Administration will conduct its own review of the findings, the agencies say.
6:30 p.m. Britain has offered all over-50s who have asked a first dose of vaccine and launched the Moderna shot in England, the government says, putting it on track to vaccinate all adults by the end of July. The government has offered at least one shot to priority cohorts 1 to 9, which include all adults over 50, the clinically vulnerable, and health and social care workers, ahead of a target to do so by Thursday.
5:00 p.m. India says it will fast-track emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines made overseas that have been granted emergency authorization in other countries, as infections surge. "The first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before it is rolled out for further immunization program within the country," the health ministry said in a statement.
3:30 p.m. The Tokyo Olympics can host fans safely at up to 50% capacity, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto says in an interview with Nikkei. Hashimoto brought up the capacity limit, citing efforts by Japan's professional baseball league to find a balance between attendance and safety. Olympic organizers have decided to exclude overseas fans from the games due to COVID-19 concerns.
3:17 p.m. Tokyo reports 510 new infections, up from 306 a day earlier. The seven-day average of new cases in the capital rose 24% from a week ago to 492.
1:19 p.m. India reports 161,736 new cases for the past 24 hours, slightly down from the record 168,912 of the previous day and marking the third straight day with over 150,000 infections, pushing the country's total to 13.69 million. Fatalities rose by 879 to 171,058.
1:05 p.m. Daily infections in Osaka Prefecture are set to top 1,000 for the first time, sources tell Nikkei. Osaka took quasi-emergency measures on April 5, asking restaurants and bars to close by 8 p.m., but the current wave of infections continues to surge. Highly contagious variants of the virus have been gaining ground, and health authorities worry the increasing number of cases is putting further stress on hospitals.
12:40 p.m. China's exports grew at a robust pace in March in another boost to the nation's economic recovery as global demand and countries' vaccination drives picked up. Import growth surged to its highest level in four years. Exports in dollar terms soared 30.6% in March from a year earlier, but at a slower pace from the record 154.9% growth in February. Imports increased 38.1% year-on-year last month, the most since February 2017.
11:25 a.m. Torchbearers for the Tokyo Olympics ran through an empty park in Osaka after the relay was re-routed from public roads due to a sharp rise in coronavirus infections. Runners carried the flame for about 200 meters each. The site was closed to the public.
10:30 a.m. A highly contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain does not cause more severe disease in hospitalized patients, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Monday. The strain, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in Britain late last year and has become the most common strain in the U.S.
10:20 a.m. Australia has no current plans to add Johnson & Johnson's one-dose coronavirus vaccine to its immunization drive, as it moves away from procuring vaccines under review over blood clots. J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines use an adenovirus, a harmless class of common-cold viruses, to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells and trigger an immune response. Both are under review by Europe's drug regulator after it found rare cases of blood clots among some adult vaccine recipients.