All broadcasters led with reports on the first community transmission of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Osaka Prefecture, with three family members, with no history of travel overseas, being infected through unknown routes.

Top items in national dailies included the detection of the first community transmission of the Omicron strain, NTT’s plan to join hands with the University of Tokyo to develop a quantum computer in 2030 at the earliest, the GOJ’s plan to allocate 107 trillion yen for the FY2022 budget, and the final report put together by a GOJ blue-ribbon commission on the maintenance of the imperial system.