hello and welcome back to nhk "newsline." it's 7:00 p.m. on friday, february 28th. i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. we start here in japan with the latest on the coronavirus outbreak. the governor of the northern prefecture of hokkaido has declared the spread of the virus in his prefecture an emergency calling on residents to stay home during this weekend and only go out if necessary. >> translator: unless we take drastic measures, i'm afraid the contagion of the coronavirus

will be spread. in order to put an end to this problem and protect the lives and health of the people of this prefecture, and to minimize the impact of thee outbreak on our lives, we are now at a critical juncture. i believe we need to take radical measures that we have never experienced before. >> the state of emergency will last until march 19th. 66 cases have been reported in the prefecture, the most in japan. those infected include students, a teach, he and a school bus driver. the governor says there's a possibility of a cluster of people infected with the virus in this city. six people, including a man in hits 70s who's in serious condition had reportedly taken part in a housing equipment exhibition. they have all been confirmed to have been infected. authorities are trying to identify the possible source and root of the contagion.

a cluster is a group of people infected with a virus in a chain. clusters may produce other clusters. and we are now joined by the doctor from the national center of global health and med spin the he's advised the japanese government on as a leading expert on infectious diseases. thank you for your time. we had breaking news come in from hokkaido and the governor of the northern prefecture announced a state of emergency. could you tell us, what does that mean and how serious is the situation in the governor said that hokkaido has entered a critical stage. how big is that range? >> i think that basically the message from the governor is if you do not contain this infectious disease right now, this infection will been demmic in hokkaido. actually in the last one week in hokkaido, they're experiencing increasing number of the new patient day by day. and the other thing is over the

last couple of days they have witnessed a cluster of infectious diseases of this covid 19. cluster means a small group of the patients infected with the tuck sious disease. and if this cluster grow to as a series, there are total number of the patient will increase rapidly. that leads to pandndemic. so that'ss why to stop that, to stop that happen, the governor declare a state of emergency. >> so a cluster can form other clusters? >> yeah, it can. >> and what we should do to contain that outbreak is make sure that we don't go to social gatherings? >> right. actually the cluster will happen from the social gathering. there's only one patient in there -- in the social gathering, they can cause cluster. so to stop that, basically, we avoid for the attending the gathering, small one, middle size one, large one. by doing that, we prevent the cluster to happen. >> so could you tell us how will this impact people's daily

lives? what should people be doing or not doing during this weekend? >> well, the governor says that the don't go out this coming weekend. think that that's true. but most specifically i'd like to say avoid gatherings, social gatherings, again, small o one d even bigigger one. by doing that, we can prevent the spread. >> so there's been a surge in the number of infected patients in hokkaido and across japan. and in hokkaido there has been enough medical facilities. what kind of measures should the hokkaido government be taking? >> to prevent cluster, now the governor declare state of emergency. the other thing is they're now preparing for the -- they're now preparing for the capacity building or the health care, so that they can accommodate the patient with covid 19. especially the patient with the severe -- >> so is there any possibility that any other parts of the country will follow suit just like hokkaido? >> yeah, it can. it can, you know.

if they witness increasing number of new patient or witness new cluster, we can say the same situation happening in other part of japan. >> any other further measures that hokkaido and other governments across japan can take in the next few weeks? >> actually pretty much of the same as is done in hokkaido, just avoid -- avoid going to the social gatherings. but doing that, we can prevent the cluster to happen. so by doing that we can contain this covid 19 outbreak. >> it's definitely necessary to make sure we avoid going out. >> yes. >> and, so, as an individual, what else can we do other than washing our hands and taking those measures. >> yes. >> what, as an individual, can we do? >> washing hands pretty much helps you. the other things is if you get the common cold, like, you know, throat pain or coughing up anything, just take a rest, three or four days. if you get better, it's okay. but if you do not get better in the three to four days, you

might have to go to the hospital for the possibility of covid 19. >> thank you very much for your time today. >> thank you very much. and the latest developments come as japan's prime minister is defending his government's plan to shut down schoolols natitionwide. he says he will never hesitate to take necessary steps to curb the spread of the contagion. shinzo abe requested the closures of all elementary, junior, and senior high schools from next week through the start of the spring holidays. it has sparked concern and criticism across the country and will potentially impact more than 12 million students. abe asked foror understandiding said the government will be responsible for issues resulting from the school closures. >> translator: the period of time i in the comining week or is crucial to contain the spread of infections.

the government will give the utmost priority to protecting the lives and health of japanese people and take necessary measures depending on the development of the situation. >> the western prefecture recorded its first fatality on friday. a man in his 70s. he was diagnosed at a hospital where other cases of infection had been recorded. he was then transferred to another hospital where he died. health mince city officials say a woman in her 70s was on board the cruise ship docked near tokyo died on friday. ten people have died in japan, including five who were on board the ship. more than 900 cases have been confirirmed in the country,, including over 700 from the ship. the government's announcement to close schools across the country has left parents scrambling to make alternate plans for their kids. as our next story shows, the decision is generating mixed feelings. >> translator: it's a tough situation. >> translator: i'm'm a worki mother. there's nothing i can do when i hear out of the blue that

schools are going to shut down. >> translator: the whole country is following the decision, so what can we do? >> translator: the government's announcement comes at an inopportune time because students are wrapping up their school year. it could disrupt exams and leave students short of the class time needed to complete their studies. >> translator: i thought it was time to make memories with my friends. it's very regrettable if the school suddenly closes. >> this junior high school just outside tokyo head an emergency meeting on friday to try to figure out the implications of the governmement's decision tha could ultimate i affect 12 million ststudents in n japan. >> translator: if we knew about it one week earlier, we e could have created a detailed plan about how to close the school in an orderly manner. >> japan's education minister says the final decision whether

to close schools will be left up to local governments but that schools will also have some input. >> translator: each school can decide on the period and find its own way of handling the closure dedepending on t the district and the n nature ofof situation. >> an education expert says the closures are appropriate given the circumststances but says sod lines of communication between the government, school and parents are essential. >> translator: there is a big gap in perception between the government and the public. the government should issue a strong message on how to deal with the confusion at schools. >> tokyo's metropolitan government has already said it will comply while other municipalities have yet to make a final decision. if the plan moves forward, children will likely be outside the classroom for at least a month. >> now, the world health organization says the number of

reported new infections is on the decline in mainland china but its chief has urged countries to do more to contain the outbreak as the virus has the potential to become a pandemic. >> for the p past two days, the number of new cases reported in the rest of the world has exceededed the number ofof new s reported from china. my advice e to these countries to move swiftly. >> the director general said epidemics in iran, italy and south korea were at a a decisiv point. in italy, infections jumped to 650. 17 people have died. there's a growing list of countries in europe reporting theieifirst caseses including norway and denmark. france's president visited a hospital in paris on thursday after the number of cases in his country more than doubled from 18 to 38. >> we are facing a crisis, an epidemic that's coming and we

know that some countries are already much more affected than we are. it means that we have to organize ourselves differently at each stage and we will have to face it as best we can. >> the virus is disrupting travel plans for people across the globe. saudi arabia is reportedly closing its borders to foreign pilgrims and tourists from at least 25 countries. the move will block pilgrims from visiting islamic holy sites in mecca and medina. meanwhile, emirates and fly dubai will no longer carry passengers with tourists visa from a number of countries including china, japan and iran. an o official with the w.h.o. sd the infection entered iran unseen and undetected. and warned the outbreak there could be larger than what's being reported. the country says it has nearly

250 cases with the vice president among them. outside of mainland china and japan, a count by nhk shows more than 850 people have been infected in different countries and territories. there are dozens of cases in the united states and health officials there warn more will be coming. there are concerns over how well prepared the country is to deal with it and if there are enough test kits. the director of the country's centers for disease control and prevention told congresess it wl be expandiding the scope of its inspection. >> the recommendation should when a clinician or public health individual suspects coronavirus we should be able to get a test for coronavirus. >> fears grew on thursday after the cdc confirmed the first case in the country with no known links to another patient or trtravel abroad. the patient is from california. next, the president of the international olympic committee has reiterated the organization is fully committed to holding

the 2020 tokyo olympics as planned. reporters asked thomas bock on thursday about a possible cancellation, postponement or alternative to holding the summer games due to the coronavirus outbreak. he said he will not discuss theoretical questions or add fuels to the flame of speblinglation. ioc chief says the organizing committee is working closely with the japanese government to ensure the safety of athletes and officials. he adds added the qualification process is going smoothly thanks to the hard work of relative parties despite the challenges spread by the virus. nhk learned that olympic organizeners tokyo are considering scaling down the size of next month's starting ceremony for the torch relay. it's set to start on march 26th. about 3,000 people are expected to attend the kickoff event. sources say one plann involves reducing the number of participants to below 1,000 to

avoid creating large crowds in which the virus could spread. and going back to our top story this hour, the governor of the northern prefecture of hokkkkaido has declarered the sd of the virus in his prefecture an emergency. he's said to stay home on the weekend and only go out if necessary. >> translator: unless we take drastic measures, i'm afraid the contagion of the coronavirus will rapidly spread. in order to put an end to this problem and protect the liveses and health of the people of this prefecture, and to minimize the impact of the ououtbreak on our lives, we are now at a critical juncture. i believe we need to take radical measures that we have never experienced before. >> the state of the emergency will last until march 19th.

and as we have been reporting, 66 cases have been reported in the prefecture which is the most in japan. those infected include students, a teacher, and a school bus driver. the governor says there's a possibility of a cluster of people infected with the virus in this city. six people, including a man in his 70s who's in serious condition had reportedly taken part in a housing equipment exhibition. they have all been confirmed to be infected. they are trying to i'd fight possible source and root of the contagion. a cluster is a group of people infected w with the virus in a chain and clusters may produce otherr clusters. here's our check on the world weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. it was a bit calmer when it came to the winds here in tokyo on friday. >> yeah. >> but it still was quite on the chilly side, wasn't it? >> yeah, we saw temperatures go

below 2 degrees for the morning low here in tokyoyo, and i thin that we're going to be seeing that changing heading into the weekend, which is going to be appropriate as we wrap up february and go into march. we should be seeing some changes in that aspect. now, we talk about highs in the mid teens for tokyo and for other portions of japan, the western areas all seeing mid teens as we go through the weekend. we did see clear skies for tokyo, but we have rain coming in from the west. and so as that continues to spread eastward, we will be dealing with more of a wet event for those in the area at least for the next couple of days. but then the warmth comes into the picture as well. look at this. we're looking at snow to pick up and then into sunday and monday, plenty of snow to talk about. tokyo looking at 14 for the high on saturday, 16 on sunday. it's going to be warm during the weekend. by the time we go into monday, we're talking about 12 for the high with cloudy skies.

showers into osaka and then we warm up, mid teens for sunday and into monday. we broaden out the view, we do have the stationary front located across the basin. so as that continues to spread eastward, we're going to be talking about some rain picking up here. shanghai looking at 12. sapporo 12 with showers or saturday. beijing looking at cloudy skies with the highh of 7 as we go through saturday. meanwhile, look at what's happening across austraralia, w have remnants of thahat tropica system t that's battetering the northern coastline of australia. we're a little bit concerned ababout the e heavy rain,, thou some placeces in western aususta could see close to 250 millimeters of rain over the next few days, so be on the look out for that. darwin at 32, 36 in alice springs as we go into the weekend. let's wrap things up with a look at what's happening across europe. we've been dealing with some of this windy weather earlier in the week. the focal point now shifting towards the east. high pressure coming in. we are looking at much more

forceful system coming into the united kingdom as we head into the weekend, be on the lookout for that. rain to london and also into paris for saturday. look at this video coming out from the area in denmark. a big polar bear taking its first steps outside in copenhagen to celebrate pole ar bear. taking a dip in the pond, walking the enclosure and the baby getetting a check to see whetherr it's a boy or a girll just a few weeks. hope you have a good day wherever you are. ♪

and that concludes this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm raja pradhan in tokyo. coming up is "newsline biz" with romaine mellegard so don't go

away. xxxx selloffs on stock markets around the world have intensified over worries of the coronavirus epidemicic. the nikkei nose divide on friday to mark five straight days of losses totally about 2,3,300 points or a drop of nearly 10%. that comes after new york dow jones industrial average had its biggest one-day point loss in history following by almost 1,200. the nikkei averaged finished at 122. a drop of 6 point for thursday.

investors sold shares across the board right from the open. they extend the losses through the afternoon fouling by more than 1,000 at one stage. it's the second day this week the benchmark has lost more than 1,000 points during trading hours. japanese governments requests the temporary closure of schools nationwide added to the sense of urgency among investors. declines seen across other markets in the aisa-pacific region. ben. mark in shanghai finished 3.7% lower. seoul fell 3.3%. australia down 3.25% marking three straight day of losses. i'm ma lien mellow guard. the outbreak is hitting some of japan's destination for family fun, disneyland, disney sea and studios are all shutting down in osaka for about two weeks. tokyo disney resort operator oriental land made an announcement on friday. it says the decision is aimed at

preventing the spread of infection. universal studios japan is closing for the same reason. with both venues heeding a government call for businesses to cancel or postpone large events. the theme parks are scheduled to reopen on march 16th. now, japanese conglomerate is making it ease area for parents whose kids are affected by the school closures next week. they will allow their employees to work fromm home. prime minister abe asked schools to close to stem the coronavirus outbreak. company officials say the measure involves about 10,000 of thee firms 35,000 employees. many families are struggling to find a way to manage the school closures, especially in households where both parents work. in separate disruption to japan's economy, public works projects are on hold for about two weeks. the land and infrastructure ministry announced the measure on friendship.

the government will cover costs during the period including leasing fees for construction equipment and wages. japan's antitrust regulator is moving against ecommerce rakuten. it's asking the court for an emergency order to stop a plan in for free shipping on some orders. >> translator: we have filed a motion with the court for rakuten to bring an immediate stop to a process that could violate antitrust laws. >> customers are being offered freeee deliveryy for purchases abouout $36 or more.e. the promotion is due to start in the middle of next month. regulators rated rakuten offices on a suspicion that the firm abused market dominate position to force merchants to go along with the plan. company's chairman president and ceo has rejected thehe claim. he says rakakuten allows s sell to adjust their prices to compensate for delivery costs.

now, esports is booming and one company that's on the winning edge is game equipment maker razor. the firm has grown into a giant with more than 70 million users. the cofounder and ceo takes us behind the scenes. >> today we are here a truly, trtruly historicc moment. >> reporter: the southeast asian games kicked off in the philippines last december if the was s the first time e ever for esesports t to be awarded medal an ioc connected event. most o of the players u used spl gaming equipment. it was supplied by razor. >> it was very good quality and they design is very good also. >> reporter: the company's led by 42-year-old singaporean ceo

ming dahl tan. >> we believe in garms and it's passion for us, it's not business for us. >> tan used to be a lawyer who loved video games. one day he realized that to be a better gamer, he needed better equipment. that motivated him and a friend toesign the g gaming mouse. it's quick responsiveness and doability made it a huge hit. >> every single pixel motion, every single swipe is incredibly important. what you want to do is have prevision, accuracy, and you want predictability. that's what we design our mice do. in esports today, any single motion, every single click can mean the difference between a million dollars and zero. >> reporter: the company also makes other items, including a keyboard that uses light senenss

for faster activation. the ceo now wants to use razer's popularity to gain a foothold in the growing field of financial technology or syntech. the firm has developed an app called razer pay that lets users make electronic payments. tan hopes it will appeal to young people who lack bank accounts. . >> we're looking at markets -- let's say southeast asia where the youth are incredibly unbarched. it's an underserved market at that point of time. >> reporter: the motivation that drives the ceo's business moves is the same that drew him to games in the first place. keeping things fun. >> i would say thahat i'm very happy doing what i'm doing over here and at the end of the day, it's realllly just one thing i' trying to achieve, which is just to have fun. and i just continue to have fun with what i'm doing at razer.

>> reporter: with esports taking off and syntech expected to be the next big thing, razer is positioned to become a global force for ceo tan, it's game on. >> okay, let's get a check on the markets.

and that's it for "newsline biz" from our tokyo studios. i'm ramin mellegard, thanks so much for joining us. >> at least 33 turkish have been

killed in an airstrike by the syrian regime inin the northwestern part of the country as a result, turkey is now allowing refugees to cross its border. we'll be getting more shortly from our anchor. coronavirusses of as the outbreak continues to spread around the globe. other victims of the epidemic seeing the stock market stumbling in response to the growing anxiety. filmmaker roman