Health care industry
Olympic Rings assembled atop of a structure stand out near a ski resort on the outskirts of Beijing, China, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. The Chinese capital is gearing up for the Winter Olympics the midst of COVID-19 outbreaks in several Chinese cities which have been locked down. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China faces omicron test weeks ahead of Beijing Olympics

By Huizhong Wu Jan. 13, 2022 01:15 AM EST

Residents wearing masks wait at a bus stop in Beijing Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. China's "zero tolerance" strategy of trying to isolate every case and stop transmission of the coronavirus has kept kept the country where the virus first was detected in late 2019 largely free of the disease. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China keeps virus at bay at high cost ahead of Olympics

By Joe Mcdonald And Huizhong Wu Sep. 21, 2021 08:32 PM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2021, file photo, a visitor receives a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Tokyo Vaccination Center at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. In a new government policy that was debated in parliament on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, coronavirus patients with moderate symptoms will isolate at home instead of in hospitals, as new cases surge in Tokyo to record levels during the Olympic Games. (Stanislav Kogiku/Pool Photo via AP)
Japan to limit hospital care as COVID-19 cases hit new high

By Mari Yamaguchi Aug. 04, 2021 05:51 AM EDT

A flypast with Olympic-colored smoke by Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse team passes over the Tokyo Metropolitan Government complex during the final torch relay event for the Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Kantaro Komiya)
In venue fit for head of state, Japan PM seeks Pfizer doses

By Mari Yamaguchi Jul. 23, 2021 02:20 AM EDT

People wearing face masks chat before parting at a train station in Tokyo, Friday, July 9, 2021. A state of emergency began Monday, July 12, 2021, in Tokyo, as the number of new cases is climbing fast and hospital beds are starting to fill just 11 days ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Explainer: How will the virus emergency affect the Olympics?

By Mari Yamaguchi Jul. 12, 2021 04:38 AM EDT

FILE - In this June 6, 2021, file photo, local residents wait for receiving the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at a mass vaccination center in Yokohama, near Tokyo. After months of delays due to political and bureaucratic bungling as well as a shortage of vaccines, inoculations in Japan are taking off, and the drive is now racing down to the wire with the Olympics starting in one month. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Is Japan's remarkable vaccine drive in time for Olympics?

By Mari Yamaguchi Jun. 25, 2021 12:12 AM EDT

Shizue Akita, left, who died of COVID-19 at an Osaka hospital on May 13, 2021, and her husband Yukihiko Akita smile at Yukihiko's birthday party in Tondabayashi, western Japan, November 2019. As she struggled to breathe, Shizue Akita had to wait more than six hours while paramedics searched for a hospital in Osaka that would treat her worsening COVID-19. When she finally got to one that wasn’t overwhelmed with other patients, doctors diagnosed severe pneumonia and organ failure and sedated her. Akita, 87, was dead two weeks later. (Kazuyuki Akita via AP)
'Like hell:' As Olympics loom, Japan health care in turmoil

By Mari Yamaguchi And Kantaro Komiya May. 21, 2021 12:21 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2020, photo, the Olympics rings are reflected on the window of a hotel restaurant as a server with a mask sets up a table, in the Odaiba section of Tokyo. The vaccine rollout in Japan has been very slow with less than 1% vaccinated. This of course is spilling over to concerns about the postponed Tokyo Olympics that open in just over three months.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Pfizer and BioNTech to donate vaccines for Olympic athletes

May. 06, 2021 07:05 AM EDT

Matt Carroll, right, CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee, chats with former Australian Olympic beach volleyballer and gold medalist Kerri Pottharst at a ceremony to mark 100 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympics in Sydney Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Olympics live sites will be held across Australia during the Olympic Games, from July 23 to Aug. 8 2021, taking advantage of the one hour time zone difference for Australians to watch athletes perform. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Australian Olympians to be given COVID-19 vaccine priority

Apr. 27, 2021 06:16 AM EDT

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, second from right, speaks during a meeting of the coronavirus infection control headquarters at his office in Tokyo Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. Suga, in a speech earlier, said the vaccine is “the clincher” in the fight against the pandemic and vowed to start vaccinations as soon as late February, when a health ministry approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the first applicant, is expected. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)
Japan vaccination uncertainty casts doubts over Olympics

By Mari Yamaguchi Jan. 22, 2021 05:33 AM EST

A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks in front of Tokyo 2020 sign Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Tokyo. The CEO of the Tokyo Olympics Toshiro Mut said Friday that having a vaccine is not a requirement for holding next year Olympics and Paralympics. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Tokyo Olympic CEO: Vaccine not requirement to hold games

By Stephen Wade Sep. 04, 2020 08:05 AM EDT

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2020 file photo, a man is seen through the Olympic rings in front of the New National Stadium in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics were postponed a month ago. But there are still more questions than answers about the new opening on July 23, 2021 and what form those games will take.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Japan Medical Assn: Tokyo Olympics difficult without vaccine

By Stephen Wade Apr. 28, 2020 04:33 AM EDT

FILE In this Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 a general view of the Camp Nou stadium prior of a Spanish Copa del Rey soccer match between Barcelona and Leganes at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort, File)
The Latest: Japan's medical head says vaccine needed quickly

By The Associated Press Apr. 27, 2020 03:23 PM EDT

FILE - In this March 23, 2020, file photo, a worker walks through the athletes village for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in Tokyo. Tokyo’s governor is considering the possibility of using the unfinished Olympic Athletes Village as a temporary hospital for coronavirus infected patients. The massive village on Tokyo Bay could house up to 18,000 people during the Olympics. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Athletes Village for Olympics could house virus patients

By Yuri Kageyama And Stephen Wade Apr. 03, 2020 05:04 AM EDT

Members of cleaning crew wearing protective masks and suits disinfect a bus as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus, in Mexico City, Thursday, April 2, 2020. Mexico has started taking tougher measures against the new coronavirus, but some experts warn the country is acting too late and testing too little to prevent the type of crisis unfolding across the border in the United States. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
26 infected with coronavirus at Mexico hospital; doctor dead

By Christopher Sherman Apr. 02, 2020 08:34 PM EDT

City crews clean a platform for the new ART bus system near Albuquerque, N.M.'s Old Town on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Normally this area is booming with tourists because of spring break, but the recent coronavirus pandemic has forced visitors to stay away. (Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
New Mexico has few medical masks to spare as virus spreads

Apr. 02, 2020 06:53 PM EDT

The Mary Tyler Moore statue on Nicollet Mall got a mask and rubber glove, perhaps for levity in the face of the Coronavirus, and seen Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in downtown Minneapolis. (David Joles/Star Tribune via AP)
Minnesota health plans agree to cover more COVID-19 costs

By Steve Karnowski Apr. 02, 2020 06:29 PM EDT

State copes with jobless surge, more prison workers infected

By Susan Haigh And Dave Collins Apr. 02, 2020 06:13 PM EDT
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut officials are struggling to handle an overwhelming number of unemployment claims stemming from the coronavirus outbreak that...

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2020, file photo, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks in Rapid City, S.D. Noem on Thursday, April, 2, 2020, said she was activating the National Guard to set up temporary hospitals in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. (Jeff Easton/Rapid City Journal via AP, File)
South Dakota Gov. tasks National Guard to expand hospitals

By Stephen Groves Apr. 02, 2020 05:46 PM EDT

A ventilator is displayed during a news conference, Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at the New York City Emergency Management Warehouse, where 400 ventilators have arrived and will be distributed. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sounded his most dire warning yet about the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday, saying the infection rate in New York is accelerating and the state could be two to three weeks away from a crisis. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
States demand ventilators as feds ration limited supply

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Robert Burns And Ben Fox Apr. 02, 2020 04:23 PM EDT