it's7:00 p.m. on a wednesday. a surge in south korea saw 284 new cases, the biggest number yet reported on wednesday, bringing the total number to 1200, 12 people have died so far. south korea has the most infections outside mainland china. many cases have been traced to a

church in the city of taegu. criticism is mounting against the government's response. more than 17,000 people have called f the impeachment of moon jae-in. the petition is on the presidential office's website and must be officially answered bit government. one voices dissatisfaction of the availability of surgical masks and the price. another talks about the ban of travelg anywhere i cna. 94 passengers on a flight from seoul have been quarantined after three people showed fever after arrival on tuesday afternoon. the three were hospitalized, while 94 others who had sat near them on the plane were sent to a hotel to be quarantined. in mainland china, 78,000 people have tested positive, with the death toll topping 2700 many . t

but outsi hub provinc no death was reported for the first time in three weeks. authorities in another province announced that visitors would be placed in quarantine at a hotel regardless of nationality. authorities at another province said they would deny entry to tour groups from south korea. authorities in another province say they're requiring visitors from japan and south korea to declare where they'veeen and be monitored at their residence for two weeks. there've also been spikes of coronavirus in a number of european countries, including italy. over 320 people are infected and at least ten have died 11 towns in the country's north are on lockdown with people banned from

leaving. health mensteinisters gathered rome. the health minister had this to say. >> translator: there is no change for the travel conditions of italians going abroad. this is the first commitment made by the countries bordering italy. they wanted to share the idea that shutting borders would be a mistake, a disproportionate and wrong measure. >> five other european countries, including croaa, austria and switzerland confirmed cases in people who recently traveled to italy. in iran, 15 deaths have been confirmed. 900 are suspected to be infected, including the deputy health minister who tested positive for the virus. prayer services have been banned in a central region. outside mainland china, 40 people have died while more than

3,000 cases have been confirmed. there is a proposed pause in japan on public gatherings. shinzo abe suggested that major sports or other public gatherings should be canceled or scaled down for about two weeks. >> translator: now is a crucial time to contain the spread of the virus at an early date. >> abe added the government will ban foreign nationals from southern areas of south korea from entering japan starting thursday. the government has set up a team of experts to tackle virus clusters, a growing global concern. >> translator: a cluster is a group of people infected with the virus in a chain. clusters may produce other clusters. the government and experts are afraid of this kind of expansion. >> the ministry says clusters

may have already occurred in some parts of japan including tokyo and wakayama. in japan, more than 860 people have been confirmed to have been febted many nearly 700 of them are from a quarantined cruise ship docked near tokyo. an elderly person with the virus has died in the northern prefecture of hokkaido, the second fatality outside the ship. four people from the vessel have died. questions are also mounting over the future of the tokyo olympic games this summer with japan's government stressing it is still all systems go despite the outbreak. a senior member of the olympic committee, dick pound told the associated press that if the virus gets out of control the committee is more likely to cancel the games than postpone or move them. his comments caused push back. an opposition law maker quoted

pound and asked for the government as reaction. >> translator: we received a report from the ioc to our organizing committee. the ioc said the remark was not an official deal. dick pound did also say that the ioc is preparing to hold the tokyo games as scheduled. >> hashimoto added that anticipating the worst situation is imperative, and that japan's priority should be to contain the virus as quickly as possible. japan's nuclear regulator has given the green light for the restarting of a plant. it has been offline since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

the three reactors at the onagawa reactor shut down when it hit. the plant operator has fulfilled precautionary measures to justify the restart as required by the government. that includes raising the sea walls to 30 meters to withstand tsunamis. it's unclear how soon the reactor will actually go online as local municipalities have to give their report. all reactors were offline after the disaster. seven have been approved to go online. japan's government is set to approve a drug said to be the world's most expensive medication. it has already been approved in the u.s. where the cost of treating one patient is more than $2 million. novartis japan had applied for clinical use of the drug to

treat spinal atrophy, which causes wasting away of the muscles. 90% of newborns either die or need a res praeter by the age of 2. treatment involves injecting a working copy of a human gene. a japanese advisory panel endorsed the policy to approve the drug on wednesday. it is expected to take about a month. and the ministry will decide the domestic price. the drug is administered only once by intravenous drip. all babies up to 9 months old who were treated in clinical tests abroad reached the age of 2 without needing a respirator. in japan, about 20 babies are born with the condition every year. the officials say the cost of the drug is likely to be covered by insurance when treating patients up to 23 months old.

u.s. president donald trump says an agreement with the tal ban to avoid bloodshed in afghanistan for a week appears to be holding up. >> we've got two days now under our belt without violence or i guess a minimum of violence. >> trump made the comments as he wrapped up a state visit to india on tuesday. washington says if the taliban keep their end of the agreement they will sign a peace deal with the militant group on saturday after almost 20 years of war. trump says he hopes to bring home abo a thi of the 12,000 u.s. troops currently in afghanistan. but some observers say if the u.s. reduces its presence too quickly, it could worsen the security situation in the country. in a related development, afghan officials have agreed to postpone the inauguration ceremony for their newly-elected president. the u.s. state department says the decision will give afghans time to establish a national framework for peace.

afghan media say the ceremony for ashraf ghani had been scheduled for thursday. the election committee named him the winner last week, almost five months after afghans went to the polls. reuters news agency says the u.s. wanted kbaghani to defer h inauguration. the main rival, abdullah abdullah, says the vote was rigged. the prime minister of east timor has offered to resign after his budget bill failed to win enough votes in parliament. he has been in the post for almost three years, but his three-party ruling coalition has been refrained. a new coalition government is

planned by gushmal. some say it could affect poverty, which affects 40% of the population. a world-renowned shchampagn producer is aiming to add to his reputation with a beverage from japan many nhk world tells us this is just the first step. >> reporter: few people know more about champagne. he was the cellar master for close to 30 years. he has visited japan more than7 than70 times. his afepifinity for japanese cuisine has led him to start

brewing sake. >> translator: people have been brewing sake for more than 1,000 years but its charms haven't spread as far as they can. sake pairs well with most of the world's cuisines. so i want to share this fascinating drink with everyone on earth. >> reporter: he intends to incorporate a technique into sake brewing. he hones his skills while working and it's a process of learning a variety of wines. he will use the technique to create what he hopes will be the ideal sake. masuda is a fifth-generation sake brewer in toyama. it is hoping to open new doors. >> translator: this is the best opportunity the sake industry could ask for.

we're working with world class professionals. >> reporter: they collaborated for three years to prepare sake. they carefully selected sake made with different types of rice and yeast. masuda prepared a collection of sakes and 15 were chosen. they blended and sampled the drink over and over using the well-trained palate. he set his goals high. >> there is a buildup of character to the finish. and it finishes with force and very defined. almost assertive and very persistent in character. >> reporter: after six months of trial and error, he finalized the proportions for the blend. after the sake had matured, it was sold to restaurants in europe, the u.s. and asia.

he has already taken the next step. he's broken ground for a sake brewery of his own at the foot of the tateyama mountain range. >> translator: with sake brewing, location is important many rice grown in the splendid, natural environment of tateyama will eventually spread around the world in the form of sake. >> reporter: he expects his first batch to be ready in december. and when it is, the japanese will have a new companion. nhk world, toyama.

okay. it's time to bring jonathan oh into the picture to walk us through this hour's weather outlook. what's on your radar, jonathan? >> we're talking about some clouds, early morning rain and colder weather as wheell.

temperatures are going to be dropping a little below average. you're going to want to definitely keep the winter jacket around, because it's going to stull be a b going to still be a bit of a rollercoaster ride. may see a warmup in the begiing ofext week. and next week we're going to march. yeah, we're going to see an appropriate change, i think, as we head toward the beginning of next week. here's a look at the forecast for now. what's happening is we had a low pressure system and a front push eastward. that's reason why we had that rain overnight in tokyo and the pufx si pacific side of japan. had clouds through today and we're going to see the cold air taking a hold as we go into thursday. snow, still, is a part of the f forecast up to the north as we go to thursday and eventually we will see things calming down from there. niigata looking at fleururries

flying around. tokyo at 12, fukuoka with a high of 13. partly cloudy skies as we go through thursday. we broaden out the view. there's a high pressure system up in china helping to bring in the cold air. it's enough cold air to where it would be interacting with moisture, meaning the possibility of snow into beijing as we go into thursday. showers continue to be a part of the story down to the south. chongqing, you're looking at wet weather. high of 15673. beijing a 4. here's a look at what's happening across north america. we're talking about the possibility of really strong winds and some unstable weather along the eastern seaboard as we go through wednesday. cold air wrapping around on this north side of the low here near the great lakes. so be on the lookout for that as we go through the day on

wednesday. back to the west, it's a bit calmer many we' calmer. we're not going to see as much activity. look at this, chicago and into toronto near the great lakes will be getting snow and rain from new york down to atlanta as we go through the middle of the workweek. so have the umbrellas nearby, because you're probably going to need it. that's a look at your forecast. hope you have a good day wherever you are.

ramin mel falegard is up ne with the latest in business and financial news, so do stay with

us. the virus outbreak is rattling stocks. morning prices in tokyo plunged briefly by more than 2%. analysts say investors who thought the anniversavirus with contained have shifted their

view. the nikkei finished wednesday at 22,132. the index trimmed as investors saw buying opportunities. markets across the asia-pacific were down across the board. seoul was down 1.3%. shanghai fell 0.8%. this is news li"newsline" biz, ramin mellegard the new coronavirus outbreak has not put a damper on a fason event a goverent request is that larg gatheris be cceled or sced down. the girls collection takes part in chaibuya. out 90odels areo take pa.

they'll th'll livetream thevent. searseries of eves have faen victimo the virus e univeity pdicts economi growth to shrink if the situation continues for three months. if the impact lasts for one year growth could contract by up to six tenths of a point. eventually the economy may stall, but he stopped short of predicting a recession as long as consumption remains unchanged. many companies are having staff work from hope. shiseido has had about one third of its staff work from home. the measure excludes front line

sales staff and factory workers. those who need to attend the ost a office are asked to avoid peak times. it was confirmed at denttsu that a staff member had the virus. they also ordered all headquarter staff to work remotely for the time being starting wednesday. meanwhile, the japanese government has asked labor unions to encourage working from home or avoid rush hour to contain the virus. many businesses have questions about how to respond to the health emergency. they say they've been inundated by calls.

they have had about 800 kwaers from firms in the manufacturing, tourism, hospitality and other sa sectors. some companies want to know if they can get financial support if their businesses take a hit. others want to know what procedures to follow. they've received hundreds of calls from individual employees. now, in view of the so-called phase one deal in the trade dispute between beijing and washington, a number of punitive tariffs remain in place. the resulting uncertainty is fu fueling a drive by taiwanese businesses to bring production back home from china. >> reporter: this metal-pressing company makes car parts as well as hard drives for the united

states and other markets. it opened a plant in china about 20 years ago, to benefit from lower costs, such as cheap la r labor. but last year's imposition of additional 20% tariff by the u.s. hit the company hard. management decided to move part of the production line back home. the firm invested some $30 million in a new plant in central taiwan, with shipments expected to start by the end of this year. >> translator: my company will sufficient if we just wait for the u.s.-china negotiations to be settled out. if we have a production based in taiwan we can be more flexible. >> reporter: the relocation trend is also being encouraged by the administration of taiwan's president.

it's offering incentives, including low-interest loans and free factory space for two years. over the past year, about 170 companies have taken advantage of the program. >> translator: our goals are to expe tig expedite taiwanese overseas companies. >> reporter: some are cashing in on the opportunity, too. this is the deputy president of the japanese industrial robot maker in taiwan. he says many taiwanese firms that have relocated are interested in bringing in robots to cut labor costs. >> translator: companies that have moved back want to build smarter companies using high end equipment. we can help them add this value. >> reporter: looking ahead, the

rush to relocate to taiwan is expected to continue, as the president plans to keep the incentives in place to reduce economic depend ence on china. nhk, taipei. >> okay. let's get a check on the markets.

in an earlier story, we referred to shi saido over video of dentsu, we apologize. thank you very much >> this is frce 24, it is time

r 60 minutes live around the world. 60-year-old french man dies from the coronavirus. the second death in france. this, as france confirms five new cases here.