♪ hello and welcome to nhk "newsline" i'm yoshi in tokyo. we begin with the latest on the coronavirus outbreak. the european union is raising its risk level for a mass infection to high as the number of cases rises on the continent. >> we have a situation that is very complex, and it requires, on one side, very swift action, and on the other side, a strong coordination on all the levels.

>> the move comes after italy reported 342 new cases on monday, bringing the total number of infections there to 2,032. it said the number of deaths jumped from 18 to 52. some towns in the country's north have been placed on virtual lockdown to stop the spread. portugal and luxembourg have also reported their first infections. in some parts of france, schools are closed and residents have been advised to stay indoors. elsewhere, u.s. authorities say the number of patients there has reached 43 while the death toll has risen to 6. new york state, rhode island, and florida have all reported their first infections. there south korea the government has announced the number of infections has exceeded 5,000. the death toll there stands at 28. president moon jae-in says the

government has set up a new facility to accept people with mild symptoms. nhk calculates that outside mainland china and japan, the number of deaths has topped 160 and more than 10,000 people have been infected in dozens of countries and territories. but inside mainland china, the spread of the virus continues to slow. in japan, there are now around 980 confirmed infections, including those from the "diamond princess" cruise ship. meanwhile, the head of the world health organization has suggested the coronavirus outbreak can still be contained even as it continues surging outside mainland china. the agency's director general says it's most concerned about the situation in south korea, italy, iran, and japan. >> surrendering i don't think is right, so we have to give it our

best using containment strategy irrespective of the number of cases. >> he also says a w.h.o. team has arrived in iran. it will deliver medical supplies and support local authorities fighting the outbreak. the country has seen at least 66 fatalities from the virus. that is the highest death toll outside mainland china. the japanese government panlt of experts on the coronavirus outbreak has released its latest analysis along with a message to japan's young adults to cut back on social gatherings. nhk world's emiko lenart reports. >> translator: with sars, only patients with serious symptoms were the ones who spread the virus. but this time that's not the case. >> reporter: while much is still unknown about the coronavirus, doctors agree this is not sars. and the latest report by japanese medical experts says it

can be easily spread by patients with light symptoms and in whom the virus isis dormant. this professor, an infectious disease epidemiology expert says the situation in hokkaido, japan's hardest hit prefecture, is an example of this. the current number of infected patients in hokkaido is over 75. but the expert panel members say the possible number could actually be ten times higher. a potential 940 people in hokkaido alone. >> translator: the confirmed number is ten times smaller than our estimate. we believe that most of the people infected are young and showing minor symptoms. >> reporter: they say 80% of patients do not transmit the virus to others. there's a certain infection pattern too. the virus is likely to be spread quickly among groups in stuffy indoor areas.

in the case of hokkaido, the virus had been transmitted among young people in high-risk environments like concert halls and gyms. >> translator: it is highly probable that the infection spread at the sapporo snow festival, which was held through february the 11th. that's when we believe many people became infected. >> reporter: the experts shared strategies for helping to keep the virus from spreading such as staying away from poorly ventilated indoor spaces and staying home with any light flu symptoms over the next two weeks. in particular, their message is targeted towards young people who tend to be more socicially active. >> translator: to contain the coronavirus effectively, we need to cut back on social contact. we've seseen china, hong kong, d singapore do this effectively.

we can help to prevent the spread of the virus from taking on epidemic proportions by encouraging people to avoid social contact. >> reporter: while many young people love to socialize, there's a strong push now for them to stay home. emiko lenart, nhk world. as countries around the world rush to fight the virus, japanese doctors say they could have some encouraging news. a medical team that treated cases from the "diamond princess" cruise ship says an asthma drug may help some patients. they say it could reduce symptoms of coronavirus in people who have also developed pneumonia. in a report they say that three patients from the cruise ship were given the drug ciclesonide, a steroid inhalant. doctors say the patients were from 67 to 78 years old.

they were on oxygen support but were not in a serious condition. the research shows their health improved about two days after they took the medication last month. the drug is believed to reduce inflammation in the lungs where the virus grows. the team plans to conduct further research into the possible treatment with other medical institutions. ♪ democrats in the united states are gearing up for one of the most important days in their party's presidential nomination race. super tuesday will see voters from 14 states go to the polls to select which candidate they want to see take on donald trump in november's presidential election. one of those includes former vice president joe biden, the moderate gained momentum after earning a landslide victory in

south carolina's primary over the weekend. >> we are going to defeat donald trump in his second term. one message to everyone, every person who has been knocked down, counted out, left behind. >> biden is being endorsed by two of his recent rivals, including pete buttigieg. >> we have found that leader in vice president, soon to be president joe biden. >> senator amy klobuchar also pledged her support after dropping out of the race. biden is hoping to catch up with bernie sanders, the senator and democratic front-runner is a self described democratic socialist. recent opinion polls show him leading in one of the key super tuesday states, california. >> let me tell you something, the establishment is getting very, very nervous.

>> tuesday's votes will also see a new name on the ballotot. billionaire and former new york city mayor michael bloomberg. he has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his presidential campaign. one primary that's being closely watched is in california. that's where front-runner bernie sanders is trying out some new strategies. nhk world reports. >> who is going to talk about class struggle? we are. >> reporter: this gentleman represents the backbone of support for bernie sanders, an organizer with the dememocratic socialist of america and a millennial on the edge of poverty. >> hey. welcome. >> reporter: saddled with $30,000 of student debt, the part-time director relies on food stamps and odd jobs to pay for this small backyard apartment. others who can't afford the

rising rent, averaging about $3,000 per month, end up on the street. he blames president donald trump. >> his tax cuts worked very well for billionaires, but if you talk to a random working class person, you know, rent is going up, cost of health care is going up, wages are not going up. >> this victory here is the beginning of the end for donald trump. >> repororter: sanders addresse growing frustrations with the promise of massive social change, universal health care, free public college education, affordable housing, financed by taxing the wealthy. but even fellow democrats label him as radical and question his electability. bernie, bernie. >> reporter: trump goes even farther, attacking what he calls

extreme, even un-american policies. >> with your help this november, we're going to defeat the radical socialist democrats. >> reporter: trump argues against sander's ideas, using the image of a strong economy and before stocks tumbled over coronavirus fears, the statistics seem to line up. but many say that doesn't reflect their reality. in san francisco and oakland alone, more than 12,000 people sleep on the street or take shelter in cars or rvs each night. sanders is hoping to mobilize people who hardly ever vote by offering what he says no other candidate will. >> i absolutely do feel that he's our only hope. i just do. he's our only hope.

>> reporter: and sanders is reaching beyond his core followers, reaching a multiracial and multigenerational approach. it responds to his failed 2016 bid. clinton's victory was fueled by his panic votes as a son of an immigrant himself, sanders says if he becomes president, he'll be in a position to make their lives better. >> a lot of people who are immigrants here, it's really hard. voting for someone like bernie who can make things possible like university free, it's a huge, huge push. >> reporter: while many at the periphery of a deeply divided nation have already made their choice, sanders will need to ensure they get to the polls if he hopes to become president.

the u.s. is capping the number of chinese citizens it's allowing to work in the u.s. for what it describes as state-controlled media entities. the decision comes after beijing revoked the press credentials of three "wall street journal" reporters last month. the state department says the cap will apply to five chinese state media entities including xinhua news agency and "china daily." previously they were able to employ 160 chinese citizens in the u.s. at any given time, but that number will be cut to 100 starting march 13th. a senior u.s. official told reporters the measure is intended to convey concern over china's reputation for monitoring and harassing foreign journalists. last month "the wall street journal" published an opinion column calling china the real sick man of asia. beijing expelled three journalists after the newspaper declined to apologize.

three people are under arrest in japan in connection with the political scandal involving the country's former justice minister and his wife. both currently serve as lawmakers in japan's ruling party. hiroshima district prosecutors arrested a secretary to upper house member anri kawai along with a senior official from her campaign team. the prosecutors allege the suspects violated election law by paying anri's campaign staffers about twice the legal limit during the upper house race last july. she wewent on to c capture h het seat in the diet. anri's husband is longtime lawmaker and former justice minister katsuyuki kawai. his secretary was also arrested on the same accusation. prosecutors have raided the couple's offices both in tokyo and in their home constituency.

they are investigating whether the couple instructed their stafaff to make the paymenents. the former justice minister stepped down from his cabinet post after media broke the story last octctober. they issued statemements on tuesday apologizing for causing concern. they s say they are willlling t cooperate with investigators but will not comment any further on the case. it's time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. hello, sayaka. >> hello, owe shi. >> how warm did it get in japan? >> lasast three months warmest december to february period. in fact, over 100 spots of the country experienced the warmest winter in recorded history that includes kyoto. the daily average temperature during that period was 7.6 degrees, that's 2 degrees higher than normal. that's very unusual. that's very unprecedented.

and tokyo experienced one of the warmrmest winters in recorded history. the smallest amounts of snowfall on record. for example, the city of nigata saw only 4 centimeters of snow. that's only 2%. usually the area received nearly 200 centimeters of snowfall. and the japan meteorological agency is now saying that the warmer conditions will likely continue for the entire portions of japan from hokkaido to okinawa this month as well. and thanks to that, the chairly blossom season will likely come much earlier than average. the flowers will likely start blooming in tokyo on march 17th. that's nine days earlier than average. the record is april 3rd, so it could surpass the record and it's very unusual that people in sapporo start to see flowers in april. now, however, snow is still hanging aroundd over northern japan. we've got nearlrly 25 sent mete

of snow over the past 24 hours in hokkaido. snow will likely ease but another round of snow will affect portions of northern japan as we go into late wednesday and into friday. and we are looking at rainfall across many places, japan, including tokyo. so we will see rainy weather once again in tokyo on wednesday. temperatures will be going down to the single digits once again on wednesday. today's high was nearly 18 degrees. it is definitely a beautiful day but tomorrow is going to be very cold and very wet.t. however, sunny weather should return on thursday. osaka will see rainy weathther wednesday. if you remember last week, cyclone esther made landfall in the northern territory. as a low pressure system, it's dumping heavy rainfall over the northern territory and it looks like it iss expected to dump heavy rainfall not just in the northern territory but also

queensland, new south wales a a partss of south australia. so many places of australia will receive flooding rainfall, at least into friday. meanwhile, we have a system located over the north causing giant waefs over the island. the system will likely stay here for a while. that's it for me. have a nice day.

and that's all for this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshi ogasawara in tokyo.

thanks very much for watching and do stay with us for more. xxxx. ♪ businesses in japan are adjusting to a new reality as they face the fears and risks created by the coronavirus outbreak. gym operators of central sports says it's closing almost all of its outlets until next tuesday. other gym companies have taken similar measures. eon mall is trimming the opening hours at its 142 shopping malls. the company says all tetenants,

except supermarkets, will shorten their days by about four hours. that's partly to deal with staff shortages as a result of nationwide school closures. and a c conveyer belt sushi c c is taking away one of the defining features of its business. diners will no longer see dishes circling on a belt in front of them. instead, they'll be asked to order from a touch screen panel. this is "newsline biz" i'm jean ohtani. u.s. social media giant twitter is t tellingng all its ememployeeees wororldwide to wom home if thehey can.n. ththe company u urged people to this frorom mondayay. it says offffices wilill remainn while hygiene measures in place for those -- for those who need to be there, but working from home will be mandatory in japan, south korea and hong kong. that's in keeping with government measures to contain

the virus, such as closing schools. other major tech firms have taken their own steps. facebook has cancelled its annual developer conference scheduled for may. an organization representing the world's most advanced economies has lowered its global growth outlook for 2020 due to the coronavirus. the organization for economic cooperation and development now says it expects the world economy to expand 2.4%, that's down from 2.9% in its previous forecast in november prior to the outbreak. the oecd downgraded its outlook for some of the biggest economies it expects china to grow at 4.9%. the u.s. at 1.9%. japan just 0.2%. it warns things could get much worse if the virus outbreak drags on. in that case, global growth could fall to around 1.5% this

year. the oecd says some big economies could even slip into recession, including the eurozone and japan. japan's two biggest airlines will offer free refunds for all tickets that have been cancelled due to fears about the coronavirus. they made the decision as passenger traffic plum meted following the government's request that people cancel or postpone major events in travel. the refunds apply to all domestic and international flights scheduled through march 19th. the period will be extended through periods of flights to china. jao willl accept cancellations through april 20th. ama will accept them through april 30th. the two airlines announced a free cancellation policy last week for domestic flights only expanded to international flights in response to numerous customer requests. the refunds are being processed through the company websites,

airport counters and over the phone. a new type of store is booming in japan using a business model that has existed for years. it's the launro-mat. they have added a new spin. almost everyone has a washing machine and yet there has been about 60% increase in the number of these self service laundry mats since 2001. we look at the new services that are attracting repeaters. nhk yuko fukushima has the report. >> these days launderers are coming up with different ways to attract customers. many of them now look more like a neighborhood coffee shop. at this one you get a caffeine fix and eat pastries while you wait for your laundry to finish. >> translator: i i can do some work or read a book while i wait. there aren't many places like this. i think it's a good idea.

>> reporter: some existing businesses are getting into the laundry game. this includes a major convenience store chain while fewer people tend to come to stores on rainy days, that's a time when many people use laundries because their clothes won't dry outside. >> translator: around 70% of the customers at this laundry also purchase something from this convenience store. that's added up to an overall sales increase of about 2 to 3%. >> reporter: for many years the typical coin laundry in japan looked like this, just the basics, washers, dryers and a few places to sit. they catered to people who didn't have a washing machine at home. but now families are the target customers. that's because in a growing number of households both partners work and laundry doesn't get done everyday. people see going out to do laundry as a way to actually

save time. and the look of the modern laundry is much more inviting. washing machines are state of the art, equipped with many functions. you can wash and dry your clothes in one of these at the push of a button. a task that would probably take three hours at home is finished in about one hour. machines can also handle big blankets and down duvets that don't fit easily into home washing machines. they also clean away polen and mites. good for people with allergies. >> translator: it's so fluffy now. i think i'm going to be a regular customer. washing here is addictive. >> reporter: one operator is tapping the latest technology to track customers. it offers an app to shows you the result in your machine ahead

of time. there are also security options. if you don't want people to see what you're watching, a click makes the machine window go dark. the company also aims to use the app to track weather information and automatically offered discounts on sunny days. >> translator: more and more women will work and society will continue to age. i think this means manyy more people will look for wayays to outsource laundry. let's have a look at the markets.

f from the "newsline

this is -- genie: "france 24 there, these are the headlines. candidates still standing in the u.s. presidential race. primary voting coming as amy klobuchar and pete buttigieg drop out to back former vice president joe biden. the latest life from washington on the way.