Officials of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party say the party will postpone its convention due to the new coronavirus outbreak.

They say the party will officially announce its postponement on Friday, based on discussions on the matter so far following the spread of infections.

The organizers of Nagoya Women's Marathon say participants in the race will be limited to elite runners to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading in Japan.

They announced on Thursday that they will cancel entries by the public and only accept top runners for the women's marathon race in Nagoya, central Japan, scheduled for March 8.

Japan's health minister says the government is asking event organizers to review the necessity of their events to help prevent a further spread of the new coronavirus outbreak.

Katsunobu Kato called for cooperation at a news conference on Thursday.

An expert on infectious diseases says his criticism has helped improve the situation on the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess.

Professor Kentaro Iwata of Kobe University spoke on Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo using a TV-conference system.

Japan's health authorities confirmed seven new cases of coronavirus infection on Thursday. That brings the total number of patients outside passengers and crew from the ship to over 90.

Among the new cases, a man in his 80s has tested positive in Kanagawa. He had been staying at a hospital where an elderly woman who died from the virus had received care.

Two passengers who were aboard the quarantined cruise ship docked near Tokyo have died. They had been hospitalized after showing symptoms and tested positive for the new coronavirus last week.

This comes as passengers continue to disembark following a two week quarantine period.

Japan's space agency says its asteroid probe is continuing its return to Earth as planned after the first injection of its main engines.

Hayabusa2 last December began its return after completing a mission on the asteroid Ryugu.

A test event for the Tokyo Paralympics will be scaled down and held without spectators due to the coronavirus outbreak in Japan.

The Japanese Para-Sports Association says the boccia tournament will not be held as an international event.

Two people have died who were aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked near Tokyo. They had been hospitalized and tested positive last week for the new coronavirus.

Both patients were Japanese. One was an 87-year-old man who had bronchial asthma. The other was an 84-year-old woman. She didn't have any pre-existing conditions. Officials say both had a fever and developed pneumonia.

A man in his 40s has tested positive for the virus in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo. That's the 88th case of infection outside passengers and crew from the cruise ship Diamond Princess.

Earlier, authorities in the southwestern city of Fukuoka said a man in his 60s had also tested positive. He has not been abroad recently and is the first confirmed case in the Kyushu region.

Two people have died who were aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo. They had been hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus.

One was an 87-year-old man who had bronchial asthma. The other was an 84-year-old woman. She didn't have any pre-existing conditions. Both are Japanese.

Two passengers from the Diamond Princess have died after being infected with the new coronavirus. They are the first fatalities among the passengers and crew of the quarantined ship docked at Yokohama Port, near Tokyo.

Japanese government officials say an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman, both Japanese, died on Thursday. Health ministry officials are looking into the infection routes.

Passengers continue to disembark from the quarantined cruise ship docked at Yokohama Port.

As of Wednesday, a total of 621 passengers and crew members on the Diamond Princess had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

A Japanese doctor dealing with the new coronavirus outbreak on the cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo has described his work on board.

Doctor Mineo Matsubara has been on the Diamond Princess since February 13 as a member of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team, or DMAT.