glad to have you with us on this edition of nhk "newsline." it's 7:00 p.m. on thursday, april 9th. i'm raja pra hahn wiprad hahn i. nearly 4-infections were reported on thursday, bringing the trotal to more than 5,300. and tokyo saw record increase for the second day in a row. the set toal does ntotal does n cases from the cruise ship that

was docked earlier this year. 1700 people have died across the country including 11 from the ship. more than 1500 people have now tested positive in tokyo. officials confirmed 181 new cases on thursday in the capital which is home to around 14 million people. the increase comes two days after the government declared a state of emergency for some parts of the country. officials are calling on residents to stay home as much as possible and practice social distancingng. a number of museums, theaters and parks have shut voluntarily. the operator of tokyo disneylald anand tokyo disney sea has decid to keep those facilities closed until at least mid-may. now, japan's government and the tokyo metropolitan government are in talks to decide which businesses i will be asked to close during the month-long state of emergency. the tokyo metropolitan government wants to ask a wider variety of businesses such as home improvement stores and barber shops to close while the

dedeclaration is in effect. tokyo wants to announce the list on friday. but the central government has a different idea saying closures should be limit and carefully considered. the state of emergency is in place for chiba, osaka, other prefectures, as well as the capital. the federal government is urging people in the seven prefectures to stay home to reduce person-to-person contact by 70 to 80%. the one prefeck thur was not included is taking measures in his own hand. the governor of eye chhay says he'll announce his own restrictions on friday. it's a challenge any where, but especially when it includes a m metropolis like tokyo. we look at how people are

coping. >> shibuya crossing is one of tokyo's most iconic spots with thousands of people passing through every few minutes. but thursday stood in stark contrast, just two days after the government declared a state of emergency. >> i've never seen shibuya this quiet. >> translator: there are a lot less people around, but there are still quite a lot. most of them seem to be out for business purposes, including me. >> reporter: based on location data collected from people's mobile phones, this past tuesday was the quietest day in more than a month. businesses out of japan are doing what they can. this supermarket set aside the first half hour exclusively for seniors, people with disabilities, and pregnant women. >> translator: it's a relief. i can go into a store further away because it was less

crowded. >> reporter: according to the health ministry, reducing social interaction by 80% is crucial. the lower the number, the longer it will take to curb the spread and the greater the chance the number of confirmed cases will continue to rise. an infectious disease expert says it will take time for people to adjust to the new reality. >> translator: human contact should be reduced by at leastst 40% by the end of the week. by 60% next week, and 80% in the following week. this cannot be achieved by individual efforts alone, so i want to ask business operators to act responsibly. >> reporter: most people understand it's necessary, but worry how it will impact their jobs and their daily routines. >> translator: it's difficult

fofor me to reduce contact that much because i have to meet many people for work and trains are quite crowded. >> translator: i'm trying, but it's mentallyy challenging. it's very hard to avoid conversations with others. i think i could do it for one month because they say that's the target period. >> reporter: overseas, many places have gone into strict lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. in new york, people faced thousand dollars fines for breaking protocol. and in france, first-time offenders face $150 tickets that can increase with repeat violations. but japanesee prime m ministete shinzo has said that his -- won't be as stringent. the state of emergency is still in its early days and the next few weeks will determine whether

it's an effective strategy. nhk world, tokyo. and if the current approach fails to encourage enough social distancing, japan's minister in charge of coronavirus measures has warned the government may have to go further. >> translator: if it turns out the person-to-person contact is not reduced by 80%, the government will have to take additional steps within the next two weeks. >> he held a teleconference with leaders of major business organizations thursday in tokyo. he said officials are analyzing location data from mobile phones, train passenger numbers and other information to see whether the emergency declaration has enough of an impact. he asked the business community to help by allowing more employees to work from home and by hololding more meetings via teleconference. the japanese government is preparing for a possible increase in domestic violation cases as the coronavirus forces

people to stay at home and businesseses to s shut down. ththe government is concerned sh chchanges could r raise people' anxiety and stress levels and lead to a surge in domestic violence. victims are often unable to get away from their abusers. the cabinet office is calling on municipal governments to continue to p provide consultatn services and temporary refuge for domestic violence as part of preventative measures against coronavirus infection. the government plans to expect the services by delegating some to private organizations. those bodies will take calls at night and on holidays when the municipal offices are closed. the private groups will also set up help lines on social m media on sunday, u.n.n. secretary general made an urgenent appealo government to save women trapped at home witith abusive partnere during lockckdown. he saidd there have been a horrifying global surge in domestic violence. now, the japanese government will start sending two masks to

every home in the country next week amid a nationwide shortage. officials say a total of 130 millioion reusable cthth masks will be sent to 58 million households. though living in tokyo and other urban a areas where coronavirus are spiking will be the first to receive them. they say procuring and delivering the masks will cost about $420 million. officials say they'll send extra sets torld elderly care facilit and pregnant women. a japanese steam received several complaints thought to have originated from its students. 35 students at the university have tested positive for the virus. close to 40 more cases with links to the students have also been detected across 13 prefectures. the university says phone calls and emails criticizing its

students began after it confirmed its first cases in late march. some people wanted to know where the infected students live. one person threatened to set fire to the university when officials were unable to answer. the officials say they informed the public about the infections to help contain the spread of the virus, but staff and students are under great pressure. a lawyer specializing in human rightss issueues warns wi targeting against those infect with the coronavirus. >> translator: releasing information about infections should not lead to these people being criticized. rather, we should use the information to decide what kind of actions are needed to contain the virus. for example, self-isosolating a home. >> he adds it's not the infected people, but the virus itself that should be fought. the coronavirus pandemic may prompt a truce in the civil war

in yemen. the saudi-led covision halition declared a ceasefire. yemen has suffered more than five years of fighting between saudi-backed government forces and iranian-backed houthi rebels. the country has no confirmed coronavirus cases, but the possibility of an outbreak is a growing concern. the united nations has repeatedly called on both sides to fight the virus and not each other. >> the furry of the virus illustrates the folly of war. it is why today i am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. it is time to put our conflicic on lockdown and focus together on the true feist our lives. >> they could enter a ceasefire starting at noon or thursday.

the houthi said they would not stop military operations until all force have withdrawn from yemen. a special envoy welcomed the coalition's announcement and urged both sides to seek a comprehensive and sustainable peace. moving now to the united states where the infection count topped 430,000, according to johns hopkins university. and in the epicenter of new york, the number of patients at hospitals is exceeding capacity. not other doctors fearing for the lives are their patients, many of them fear for their own lives. that includes medical workers trying to bring life into the world. nhk world spoke with one doctor who began by talking about the surgical masksks she works. >> i haven't changnged my n9595 thee last two, three weeksks. and basicically after i deleliv the covov positive patients, we wipe it with double gloves and then w t take off all the things andhehen w came out with the

ppe, the mas and hats and we wipedt wh a second glove s uu don touch it and tut my nameme on thth lunchbag,g, brow lunch bag. an then u p put i it i i there d you keep indnd you use it eveve me y you go back to the hospital. >> and how do you feel a abouthe sksk t t your patien?? >> risk to our patieies always our priori. . that's always whate t to do e most. and for dedeveriwise, it's n no on the mother, isorhe newbn baby a well. you cann imagin likef y ha child a youeliverhis newbn baby who is ver vulnerab and tt you cannot even protect or you mayay even harmhe baby, whichs very, veryry hard. theaby wl be separate frfromhe mother for - until the dischargrg which isery sad.

r reporr: a andow doess injury faly feel, dooror, about y going io work eachay? >> i have a duty right now her and i i have chihild c care andy sonn who is age of 3 years old. he ask m me n not to go to hospital. and it's very hard. i know a lot of people who are actually on the front lines, come home but they are living in the garage or separated from family because the worst fear is that you will comompromise youo family. >> that was our reporter speaking to a doctor. more than 6,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the united states. new york governor andrew cuomo ordered flags to be flown at half staff in honor of the victims the. and staying with the united states where president dump says his country could see fewer deaths from the coronavirus than earlier projections of up to

240,000 fatalities. >> those were the numbers that were set, and they were set as an expectation from quite a while ago. think we're just doing much better than those numbers. >> johns hopkins university says as of wednesday, more than 14,000 people in the united states had died from the coronavirus. an expert on infectious diseases attributed this to americans following government guidelines on social distancing. as for when the country's economy could be reopened, trump did not give a time frame. he says the number of cases and deaths must first start to fall. now,, new data from the word health organization, europe regional director reports men made up two-thirdsds of the deas from the coronavirus. it's u unclear why thehe mortat rarate is higheher than women. the officiaial says the situati in europe is stitill serious. >> now i is not the timee to re measureses. it is the time to,, once again,

double and triple our colollecte efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of the society. stur turning now to the weather. jonathan, we've had a stretch of fair weather around tokyo this

week but there were showers north of here late in the week. how's the forecast? >> it looks like we're going to be dry for the next couple days and the clouds and rain return as we head into sunday because of a system that will be moving into the picture. we did see a low pressure system up toward the north into hokkaido where that was bringing in some snow into the mountains and also some precipitation as well. but we had a little disturbance roll in near tokyo and that brought in some rain into places northward. we will be dealing with that activity as we go through evening hours and into early friday. we have a low that's nearby that's helping to prompt some of the instability. up toward the north that low will eventually move out toward the east, and we should be seeing things clearing up, should be a relatively dry day for friday. maybe a little bit more shower act near tokyo, north tokyo as we see the low trying to past through the east. here's a look at the next three days. seven the high on friday.

mid-teens in fukuoka. that will stay high. but clouds and showers back toward the west by sunday so you will need to have the umbrellas nearby as we go into the latter part of the weekend. broadening out the view, high pressure controlling the eastern areas of china into the korean peninsula, which we've seen a relatively fair pattern. but there is a low developing into the central portions of china and that's what brings shower activity. there's a look at the next 24 hours and that wet weather is developing pushing eastward. by the time we go into the weekend areas like shanghai will be dealing with wet weather. friday's forecast, 22 in chongqing, 21 in shanghai. sunny skies in tokyo. mid teens for the highs. here's a look across north america. we've been tracking some strong thunderstorms that have been rolling through the eastern side of the united states. you may notice here some of these really bright red colors that indicates these powerful storms with these strong winds associated with them.

and for the past six hours as they're pushing towards the east, but now it's moving into the carolinas. we're looking down toward the south the chance for strong to severe thunderstorms. be on the look out for that. there's the cold front that's the instigator of that storm. the tail end will develop a low pressure down towards friday which means by friday we may be talking about strong thunderstorms in the deep south. thunderstorms expected thursday in houston and into washington, d.c. with highs into the 20s. that's your forecast, 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 next is "newsline" business with ramin mellegard, so don't go away.

♪ many video game players in japan will have to go without. one of the latest and most popular consoles. officials at nintendo say domestic shipments of switch have been halted. only customers who reserved in advance can get them. the coronavirus pandemic is mainly responsible for the suspense. demand has skyrocketed as more and more people are staying home all day in line with the government's stay of emergency dedeclaration. that's giving customers plenty of time to play video games. new titles have also added to

the surge in the device he's popularity. production in china at one manufacturer has not been able to keep up with demand, leading to a switch shortage. nintendo officials say they have yet to decide when they will resume shipments in japan. this is "newsline biz." i'm ramin mellegard. officials have downgraded their economic assessments for all nine of the country's regions. it's the first nationwide downgrade since 2009 and underscores the widespread effects of the coronavirus pandemic. the boj's regional branch managers held a quarterly meeting on thursday and they released the report summarizing their assessments of the regional economies. the report says the coronavirus is having serious effects on corporate production and private consumption. this prompted the officials to downgrade the assessments of every region compared to three months ago. it's the first time they've done so since the aftermath of the global financial crisis. >> translator: sales and

industries related to tourism and personal consumption have dropped significantly. >> last month, the bank introduced new measures to encourage financial institutions to lend to business affected by the pandemic. the boj's governor stressed the bank will not hesitate to have further monetary easing if necessary. there were two emergency meetings held last month and they revealed the extent to which policymakers struggled to ease the pressure from the pandemic. the officials discussed how measures to contain the virus such as social distancing would affect thehe economy. by the second meeting, the policymakers agreed that the country's near term ecoconomic outlooook had become profoundly uncertain. however, there was no consensus on how long these effects would linger and whether the outbreak would cause lasting economic damage. but, with the markets in

turmoil, the officials agreed they had to take drastic action. they decided to cut interest treitz near zero and buy bonds on a massive scale. some japanese businesses are giving financial support to employees who are teleworking or on furlough. marketplace app operator decided to close his offices in tokyo, osaka and fukuoka after the government declared a state of emergency on tuesday. the company will provide about $550 to each employee to defray some of the costs of setting up teleworking environments, including expenses for communications and utilities. lingerie maker mercari says all of its roughly 6,000 employees are now on reduced schedules of four days a week. those apart from shop attendants work from home. they say the arrangements will remain in place until june without pay reductions. and precision e equipmentnt

makeker canon will be closing i offices until may 6th. employees will receive leave allowances. those that carry out essential operations will work from home. ecommerce giant rakuten has become the fourth mobile phone carrier in japan to offer nationwide service. rakuten mobile has unveiled a monthly plan that costs 2,980 yen or about $27. this is about half the price of deals offered by others. and to take things even further, rakuten says the first 3 million customers to sign up will get the service free of charge for one year. this is part of the company's efforts to attract subscribers from other carriers. chairman and ceo says rakuten wants to reduce the monthly burden on families. he adds, this will encourage consumer spending and contribute to the japanese economy. japanese businesses in bangkok are trying hard to stay afloat amid the coronavirus

pandemic. thailand's state of emergency declaration last month means many facilities are shut down and people's movements are limited. it's affecting everyone, including 75,000 ex-patriot japanese who live there. here's that report. >> reporter: in bangkok, infections are soaring. last week, the number of coronavirus patients had increased five fold over the past two weeks to more than 2,000. the government is trying to prevent the spread of infection by closing stores, except for those selling food and necessities. this eatery has been in business for more than a decade. this is the japanese restaurant in bangkok. small businesses like this are already taking a hit from the recent ban of restaurant indoor services. customers can't be served inside anymore. revenue is down by half.

many staff members come from neighboring countries, including myanmar. >> translator: i'm scared. if there's no work there's no salary and i w won't be able to meet my living expenses. >> translator: the state of emerergency runs until the end april. we're trying to ensure our business survives. we'll do what we can as a team. >> reporter: the manufacturing sector is also feeling the pinch. this auto parts maker has thoroughly disinfected its factory. its business continuity plan addresses what steps to take to avoid infections as well as what do if any employee tests positive. the company has about 30 workers. they're divided into three groups that work independently. it's a system that means

production won't come to a stand still if anyone contracts coronavirus. >> translator: even if some workers in group "a" get infected, the other two groups will be able to keep making product. >> reporter: each group has lunch at a different time at the firm's cafeteria. so with not quite as lively as usual. the company has no control over falling demand as the pandemic spreads across the globe. but it is doing what it can to prevent infection and fulfill the orders that keep business taking over. nhk world. okay, let's get a a check o the markets.

and that's it for "newsline biz" from our tokyo studios. i'm ramin mellegard, thank you very much for watching.

♪ >> spain is clclose to the start of the decline of the pandemic. the prime minister tells lawmakers this is the face extending the state of emergency. in a moment, we will go to madrid. the u.s. reports attack -- its highest daily death toll yet. new york state is still the worst affected part of the country. a bleak warning from oxfam. the charity says covid-19 could push as many as half a billion people into poverty.