News Headlines - 25 March 2020

▽Tokyo residents asked to stay indoors at weekend due to coronavirus - The Mainichi

The metropolitan government confirmed 41 cases the same day, more than double its previous daily record of 17 the day before. On Tuesday, Tokyo overtook the country's northern main island of Hokkaido as the prefecture with the most infections.
Koike said at a press conference that Tokyo is facing an "important phase in preventing an explosive rise in the number of infections."
She also called on Tokyo residents to work at home on weekdays and avoid going out at night as much as possible.

▽LDP mulls support for Yuriko Koike's re-election as Tokyo governor | The Japan Times

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering supporting the re-election of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike in the July 5 gubernatorial poll, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai, who sees Koike as “a candidate who can win,” apparently overrode the wish of the party’s Tokyo chapter, which was aiming to field its own candidate for the gubernatorial election.
Koike trounced the LDP’s candidate in the 2016 Tokyo gubernatorial election.

▽Japanese comedian Ken Shimura tests positive for COVID-19 - The Mainichi

Veteran comedian Ken Shimura has tested positive for the new coronavirus, his agency said Wednesday, making him the first Japanese entertainment figure to announce their infection publically.
Shimura, 70, is known for performing popular characters such as "Baka Tonosama" (stupid lord) and "Henna Ojisan" (strange uncle) on TV shows. He was scheduled to start working in April on a movie based on the book "The Name Above the Title."

▽Coronavirus in India: Modi Orders Total Lockdown of 21 Days - The New York Times

India’s prime minister ordered all 1.3 billion people in the country to stay inside their homes for three weeks starting Wednesday - the biggest and most severe action undertaken anywhere to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“There will be a total ban of coming out of your homes,” the prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced on television Tuesday night, giving Indians less than four hours’ notice before the order took effect at 12:01 a.m.

▽Zororo Makamba, prominent 30-year-old Zimbabwe broadcaster dies of coronavirus - CNN

A prominent 30-year-old television journalist has died in Zimbabwe after contracting the new coronavirus infection, the first person to die in the country from the virus.
Zororo Makamba was one of the two people who tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday... Makamba contracted the disease while he was in New York and was in isolation at Wilkins hospital, Harare's only isolation facility.