News Headlines - 17 February 2021

▽UK queen's husband Prince Philip, 99, admitted to hospital

Britain’s 99-year-old Prince Philip has been admitted to a London hospital after feeling unwell, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday.
The palace said the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was admitted to the private King Edward VII Hospital on Tuesday evening... His illness is not believed to be related to COVID-19. The queen and Philip received a first dose of a vaccine against the coronavirus in early January.

▽Japan gives first COVID-19 vaccinations to Tokyo health workers | The Japan Times

Japan began vaccinating health care workers against the coronavirus on Wednesday, rolling out a cautious inoculation program with just over five months until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Japan has so far approved only the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and started administering the first shots at a Tokyo hospital on Wednesday morning.
Tokyo Medical Center chief Kazuhiro Araki became the first person in Japan to receive the vaccine outside of clinical trials.

▽Japan's Shimane Pref. may cancel Olympic torch relay events

Shimane, one of Japan's 47 prefectures, may cancel its Tokyo Olympic torch relay events if the coronavirus situation does not improve in the capital, Gov. Tatsuya Maruyama said Wednesday, in the latest sign of skepticism in the country over whether the games can be staged safely this summer amid the pandemic.
Maruyama told a press conference that he is against holding the Olympics and the preceding torch relay as he believes the antivirus measures of the central and Tokyo metropolitan governments are not sufficient to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

▽No. of juvenile suicides in Japan hits record-high 479 in 2020 - Japan Today

The annual number of juvenile suicides in Japan hit 479 in 2020, the highest figure since records began to be kept in 1980, education ministry data showed Monday.
Juvenile suicides rose by 140 compared with a year earlier and were over twice as high in August alone at 64 cases, according to data presented at a panel meeting of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to discuss preventive measures.

▽Toyota to Suspend 14 Lines due to Quake-Caused Parts Shortage - JIJI PRESS

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that it will suspend 14 lines at nine of its 15 automobile assembly plants in Japan for up to four days as parts procurement has been affected by a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Saturday. Some of the lines will be halted from Wednesday and the other lines later, with the suspension set to continue until Saturday. The leading Japanese automaker will decide whether to resume operations of the lines Sunday or keep them shut while watching the parts supply situation.