Typhoon Vongfong hit as the Philippines struggles to deal with coronavirus outbreaks that have raised the country's total cases past 11,600.

The Philippines was bracing for the typhoon while trying to fight COVID-19 outbreaks largely by locking Filipinos in their homes and prohibiting gatherings that can set off infections.

Typhoon Phanfone stranded many people in sea and airports at the peak of holiday travel, set off landslides, flooded low-lying villages, destroyed houses, downed trees and electrical poles and knocked out power in entire provinces.

Helicopters, boats and thousands of troops were deployed across Japan Sunday to rescue people stranded in flooded homes Sunday as the death toll from a ferocious typhoon climbed to at least 19 with more than a dozen missing. One woman fell to her death from a rescue helicopter.

World Rugby issued a statement saying an evacuation order remained in place in the Kamaishi area and there had been landslides and flooding in the vicinity of the stadium.

Premier Scott Moe provided an update on the well-being of his trade mission while sheltering from typhoon Hagibis in Tokyo.

Millions of people had been warned earlier to evacuate.

Typhoon Hagibis is expected to bring up to 80 centimetres of rain in the Tokyo area, including Chiba, which suffered power outages in a typhoon that hit last month.

The approaching typhoon is spreading fear especially in Chiba, near Tokyo, which was hit by Typhoon Faxai last month.

Around four to five typhoons make landfall in Japan every year, but it is unusual for them to do so near Tokyo.