NHK gave top coverage to a report that the Federal Reserve announced an emergency interest rate cut on Tuesday amid increasing concern over the economic impact of the new coronavirus. All commercial networks led with reports on the growing number of clusters of coronavirus infection across Japan, including multiple people who attended the same concert in Osaka and five people who went to the same table tennis school in Niigata.

Top stories in national dailies included the Fed’s decision to cut interest rates (Yomiuri, Nikkei), Prime Minister Abe’s plan to call for opposition parties’ support for enacting a special measures law to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak at their party leaders’ meeting today (Asahi), a plan by the GOJ to cancel the annual ceremony to commemorate the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 (Sankei), and the arrests of three aides to former Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai and Upper House member Anri Kawai on charges of violating the public office election law (Mainichi).