hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm yoshii ogasawara. we start with breaking news. the japanese government announced it will expand quarantine measures to include people from entering from most european countries, iran and egypt. japan announced on saturday will start asking both foreign and japanese nationals traveling from those countries to isolate themselves for two weeks in designated places such as homes and hotels. governments are taking more extreme measures to contain the pandemic. authorities in taiwan say

they'll ban most foreigners from entry, starting on thursday. the island started restricting travel from mainland china back in january and life there has been relatively unaffected. but residents who recently traveled abroad and foreign visitors have tested positive for the virus. ten new cases were reported on tuesday hitting double digits for the first time. officials say diplomats and foreign nationals with resident permits will still be allowed entry. but they will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks. malaysia has taken a similar measure, but it's also prohibiting its nationals from traveling abroad. that's causing headaches for the many malaysians who work in neighboring singapore. on wednesday there was no rush hour traffic along the causeway connecting the two countries. more than 300,000 people a day normally cross it.

elsewhere, the australian government is also stepping up restrictions. >> good morning, everyone. we are upgrading the travel ban on australians to level four for the entire world. that is the first time that has ever happened in australia's history. the travel advice to every australian is do not travel abroad. do not go overseas. >> the pandemic is affecting a growing number of major international sports events. soccer's european championship and copa america will be postponed for a year. they were originally scheduled to start in june. the world health organization says there have now been almost 180,000 confirmed infections around the world. more than 7400 people have died. the pandemic is forcing officials in tokyo to rethink major events for the imperial family. officials have decided to cancel

their upcoming state visit to britain. emperor naruhito and empress masako were scheduled to spend about a week there in early may. it would have been their first overseas trip since the emper emperor's accession to the throne last year. a banquet has been canceled that would have been part of ceremonies to proclaim crown prince akishino as the heir to the throne. the other ceremonies will still be held as scheduled on april 19th. but the number of guests will be pared down to over 50. the government is considering imposing stricter quarantine measures. anyone traveling from europe or egypt would be asked to self-isolate after arriving in japan. the number of confirmed infections in the country has climbed to over 850. that total does not include the more than 700 cases from the diamond princess cruise ship or the dozen or so flown back to

japan from china. so far, 29 people have died as well as another 7 from the cruise ship. nearly 700 people have recovered and left hospitals. the international olympic committee has suggested that preparations for the 2020 tokyo games will continue. but some current and former olympians are unhappy about that. ioc board members issued a statement on tuesday, saying that with four months to go, there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage. that prompted a tweet from ioc member and former canadian olympian haley wickenheiser saying this crisis is bigger than even the olympics. she called the ioc's insistence that the games will move ahead insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity. a gold medalist for greece in the 2016 games in rio de janeiro

has also been critical. she tweeted that the ioc wants us to keep risking our health, our family's health and public health to train every day. you're putting us in danger right now, not in four months. u.s. researchers are discovering clues about how the new virus may be transmitted. they say it can survive in the air for more than three hours. the researchers analyzed how the virus behaves in aerosoles or microscopic liquid particles. the researchers also studied how long the virus can survive on different surfaces. they say they found viable viruses after 72 hours on plastic and after 48 hours on stainless steel. that suggests people can contract it by touching

contaminated objects. the researchers say that both forms of transmission are associated with hospital acquired infections. the scdc is recommending that medical workers use more sophisticated respirators to protect themselves during medical procedures that generate aerosoles. the chinese government has decided to use a japanese-developmented anti-influenza drug to treat people infected with the coronavirus. the drug avigan was found to be effective in clinical trials conducted in the cities of wuhan and shenzhen. the director of china's national center for biotechnology development says patients who are given the medicine tested negative for the virus after four days on average. while it took 11 days on average before people who were not given the drug to test negative. meanwhile, japanese researchers say a drug that has been used to

treat acute pancreatitis for 30 years may also be effective against coronavirus. the team led by university of tokyo professor junichiro inoue says lab tests show that the drug nafamostat mesylate may be able to block the virus from entering human cells and proliferating. the researchers say they'll start clinical tests of the drug on coronavirus patients later this month at the earliest. the coronavirus pandemic is also having a dramatic impact on the performing arts. across the globe, opera houses, theaters and concert halls are shuttering. similar measures have already been taken across japan and as our next story shows, the situation is creating a sense of urgency for musicians and performers. ♪ >> reporter: it was a sold out

performance more than a year in the making. except instead of a packed audience, the berlin philharmonic played to rows upon rows of empty seats. more than 6,000 people took in the concert from the comforts of their home for free. it wasn't ideal, but both the performers and the organizers wanted to make the best out of a difficult situation. other performances have suffered worse fates in recent weeks. according to a recent survey of artists, 95% say some of their shows have been canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ♪ among the affected is this man who dedicated his life to mastering a traditional style of japanese music. he says most of his march performances have been scrapped. >> translator: our income will be lost if this continues.

we are in trouble. >> reporter: he continues to practice, earning money on the side by teaching apprentices. but he says it is not enough, especially if performances continue to be canceled. >> translator: our jobs will no longer be viable. i'm afraid about what could happen. >> reporter: but he says he's still fortunate, compared to other performers who have no other source of income. according to a survey, one-third say if things don't improve soon, they may have to find jobs that provide more stability. an industry expert says the exodus could have a long-term impact. >> that's very difficult for them to -- coming back to the art world once they stop it. that means the culture of japan will stop, especially for the

arts part. especially for the performing arts part. >> reporter: the arts provide an escape from the rigors of daily life, and in the wake of the pandemic, are needed more than ever. but as efforts continue to try and stem the outbreak, the show can't go on. at least for now. ♪ in the race to take on u.s. president donald trump, abc news is projecting former vice president joe biden will win florida, illinois and arizona. this further widens biden's lead over senator bernie sanders and brings him one step closer to winning the democratic nomination. the three states held primaries on tuesday, amid a growing coronavirus outbreak. ohio was originally scheduled to hold a vote, but its governor

ordered polls shut because of health concerns. biden has been on a winning streak against rival sanders since he scooped up centrist votes on superer tuesday. biden won delegate rich florida by a large margin, showing his campaign has been able to garner widespread support. >> we move closer to securing the democratic party's nomination for president. and we're doing it by building a broad coalition and we need to win in november. >> many voters are now looking at who would be the best person to lead the country through the current health crisis. analysts say voters tend to trust biden, who has been touting his accomplishments as vice president. meanwhile, sanders is pushing his appeal for universal health -- universal health insurance coverage. an early front-runner, sanders is now struggling to keep his grassroots movement afloat, while both candidates refrain from holding large events in an

effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. donald trump has long been the presumptive nominee with the republican party. with tuesday's primaries, he now has enough delegates to virtually assure his position. earlier my colleague spoke to nhk world's david mccagg in washington, d.c. to find out more about the results. >> tonight's results strengthen his position as a front-runner. turnout has increased since the previous primary as well, especially in the suburban parts of the country that help democrats win the house of representatives and in 2018. that bodes well for biden. bernie sanders on the other hand has not managed to convert his popularity among younger or more liberal americans into actual votes. and with the coronavirus preventing large gatherings, campaigning in the upcoming primary states is out of the question. further eroding his limited path to the nomination. u.s. media are speculating about

when sanders may suspend his campaign, but he fought to the very end in 2016 and he may do so again. >> well, another topic garnering a lot of speculation is joe biden's potential running mate. if he becomes the democratic nominee, who you to think will help him take on president donald trump? >> well, biden has already declared that his pick for vice president will be a woman, but that still leaves a lot of potential nominees. he also said that his administration would look like the country, leading many to believe he's considering minority or black politicians like kamala harris or stacey abrams, and might also be one of the women who raised their profiles in the primary race like amy klobuchar or elizabeth warren. selectinging warren, for instance, would be something of an olive branch to the more liberal parts of the democratic party, which could help biden increase turnout in november. and that may be a major factor in biden's thinking given president trump's popularity among republicans and the likelihood of a long, tough campaign ahead. biden has led trump in head to

head polls consistently, and sometimes quite significantly. but, of course, so did hillary clinton. and adding to the uncertainty is the fact that battleground states in this election may not be the ones we traditionally expect. states like michigan, georgia, and maybe even texas are becoming harder to predict. states like ohio and florida less so. we also know from the impeachment trial that president trump has been preparing for a contest with biden for many months now, so we'll see if the president has any tricks up his sleeve to control the narrative in the summer. china says it will ban some american journalists from working in the country in retaliation for u.s. restrictions on chinese government-controlled media outlets. the country's foreign ministry on wednesday demanded that reporters from the "new york times," "the wall street journal " and "the washington post" return their press cards. the credentials were due to expire by the end of the year. the ministry said the reporters will not be allowed to work on

the mainland or in hong kong or macao. it also said it plans to oblige five u.s. media outlets to provide information on the reporters. the ministry added that it had to take the steps because of unreasonable u.s. pressure on the chinese media. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo said he hoped china would reconsider its decision. >> i regret china's decision today to further foreclose the world's ability to conduct the free press operations that frankly would be really good for the chinese people. >> last month the state department required five chinese media outlets, including the state run shin juan news agency to provide personal data on their journalists saying they're under beijing's control. the department also announced the plan earlier this month to limit the number of chinese citizens allowed to work in the u.s. offices of the outlets to

100, down from the current 160. it is time now for world weather with our meteorologist sayaka mori. hello. >> hello. >> so here in tokyo, on wednesday, we had very warm april-like warm weather, how long would the warm conditions last? >> it is the mid-april-like weather will continue, at least for the next four days, yes. today's high was 18 in tokyo. more like mid-april. and thanks to warm weather, cherry blossoms blooming in yokohama, that was eight days earlier than normal and the second earliest in recorded history. right now, high pressure system is dominating most part of japan, so we are looking at dry conditions. we still see rainfall in the south. the system is expected to move into central japan, so it looks like tokyo will see rainfall on thursday evening. so have your umbrella handy. and another system is expected to pound the northern japan as we go into friday.

this system will cause heavy snow, plus typhoon-like strong winds. so blizzard conditions will happen across northern japan, especially hokkaido late this week. sapporo's high on thursday, 12 degrees. it is going to be very warm, it is going to be the warmest day of the year so far. and tokyo 21 on thursday and staying that way as we go into sunday. temperatures might drop by 5 degrees as we go into monday. now, kyoto will see 21 on thursday, cherry blossom will likely start blooming on saturday in the city. and as we go into the next couple of days, flowers expected to come out in many places such as osaka, hiroshima and koji. and start of the cherry blossom season will be around march 27 in sendai, that's much earlier than normal. now, across southern places of china, there is a stationary frontal system that is expected to cause heavy rainfall and taiwan will see rain and, again, this system will affect the

pacific coast of japan including tokyo as we go into thursday evening. and we are still looking at icy precipitation in the north of china and the system will likely head towards japan and this is the storm expected to pound northern japan on friday. and temperatures are going to be 18 in beijing, on the warmer side, and 1 in ulan batur and sunny weather will be turned to bangkok with high of 36 degrees. now, tornado warnings were in place on tuesday, in hawaii, making it the first time in more than ten years. right now very heavy rainfall and thunderstorms are occurring in parts of the state. the system is expected to bring in more humid air to hawaii, so more floods could occur because of the storm. and we may be looking at drenching rainfall in places like cona as we go into wednesday and gloomy conditions will continue in honolulu into friday. that's it for me. stay safe.

and that brings us to the end of this edition of nhk "newsline." i'm yoshii ogasawara in tokyo. thank you for watching and do stay with us for more.

this is "newsline biz," i'm gene otani. the average price of commercial land outside japan's major cities has climbed for the first time in 28 years. a big factor was growth in the tourism sector which drove demand for land to build hotels and stores. but experts are cautioning that the figures were compiled prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which is wreaking havoc on the global tour ex-. the government surveyed land values throughout the nation as of january 1st. prices rose by 1.4% from last

year. it was the fifth year in a row of increases. the average price of commercial land and areas outside major cities inched up by 0.3%, first uptick since 1992, just after the collapse of the bubble economy. part of a town in the northern resort of nisako saw the biggest price rises for residential and commercial land demand is growing there for vacation homes for foreigners and lodgings for resort workers. one real estate expert is warning that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the property industry could be severe. >> translator: the longer the infections continue, the more real estate prices will decline, eventually driving down land prices. >> experts says the impacts will likely be particularly big in places where tourism -- tourists have driven up prices.

japan's finance ministry says the value of the country's imports tumbled in february, it is weighed down by a plunge in shipments from china amid the spread of the coronavirus. data released by the ministry on wednesday shows japan's overall imports last month stood at about 5.2 trillion yen or roughly $48.5 billion, that's down 14% in yen terms from the same period last year. imports from china tumbled by almost half to $6.26 billion. that's the steepest fall in more than 33 years. shipments of clothing and accessories from china nose-dived by about two-thirds. those for mobile phones and other telecom devices dropped more than 45%. imports of computers and related equipment slid about 37%. the decline also impacted food, seafood shipments were down by about 40%. imports of vegetables fell by nearly 37%.

even furniture imports were affected, they declined by more than half. lockdowns and other measures designed to fight the spread of the coronavirus in europe are hurting japanese auto and motorcycle makers. officials at toyota say they will halt production of small cars in france from wednesday until the end of the month. they say employees cannot go to work due to new rules on leaving their homes. toyota shut down one factory in portugal on monday for about two weeks. nissan is suspending production lines at factories in britain and spain. other stoppages include yamaha motor. it halted a motorcycle plant in france and engine factory in italy for monday. the shutdown will continue for about a week. also in italy, honda has temporarily closed a total of 164 dealerships for cars and motorcycles. suzuki has shut dealerships in four european countries. officials at japanese mobile

carrier ntt docomo announced their 5g network will start next wednesday. the new services will launch in 150 locations in japan, including parts of cities like tokyo, sapporo, and fukuoka. they will expand nationwide. the company unveiled seven new smartphone models to run on new networks -- on the new network, it aims to have 20 million 5g contracts in four years it is not without rivals. softbank plans to launch 5g services from friday next week. kddi known for its au brand says it will soon announce details. > many factories have slowed or closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. that's causing headaches for companies all around the world. ro ota reports on how the logistics industry is trying to deal with the crisis in the supply chain.

>> reporter: workers in central japan were waiting for crucial parts sitting in a warehouse in shanghai. to make up for the production delay caused by the coronavirus, they asked that the goods be shipped by air instead of by sea. but in february, heading to central japan, not far from the factory. as the infection spreads and travel restriction tighten, airlines cancel 5,000 flights including the one the auto parts were booked on. it wasn't until late february that the firm found space on a cargo flight to japan. so it was heading to an airport far from the factory.

the parts finally arrived in early march, ahead of deadline. it cost about ten times as much to fly it than to ship it, but the managers with the logistics firm says the price tag isn't putting many people off these days. >> translator: we are having a hard time dealing with the situation because there just isn't enough space available for air cargo. >> reporter: since china's exports are decreasing, shipping containers are piling up there. that means they're landing short of containers, so their business is suffering too. the logistics companies are busy, trying to keep their customers up to date with the latest information. customers are wondering how to handle the sudden spike in costs. >> translator: even if transport

costs go up, we can't jack up our prices. we're trying to think how we can cover these increases going forward. >> reporter: the longer the coronavirus outbreak continues, the more likely it will impact businesses around the world that rely on international supply chains. ro ota, nhk world. all right, let's have a look at the markets.

from the "newsline biz" team in tokyo, i'm gene otani. thank you very m

♪ day two of the french lockdown. fines for anybody outdoors without a permit rise today to 135 euros as the government takes the most aggressive measures to date to fight covid-19. the eu also comes to a virtual s sndstill. movemement acrcross the e block severely restricicted and ththeu commission president admits leaders underestimated the virus. we will get the latest with our correspondent in brussels shortly.