welcome back to nhk "newsline" it's tuesday, august 11th. i'm maya tschida. we start in tokyo where more than 188 new coronavirus cases were reported on tuesday. the daily tally in the capital has now fallen below 200 for two straight days. the latest data comes during the nation's annual bon holiday period, when many people normally return to their hometowns. but tokyo officials asked residents not to travel to other prefectures or dine in groups due to a recent surge in cases.

meanwhile, a survey by a credit research firm has revealed more about the papandemic's's impact the e japanesese economymy. it shows more e than 100 compans went bankrupt in both june and july. bars, restaurants, and hotels were hit especially hard. more r more than 400 firms have gone bankrupt since february. the recent surge in cases dampened consumer sentiment. more could go under, including manufacturers. tough times for japan and also abroad. in june, the country's current account surplus plunged 86% from a year earlier. the finance ministry says the figure stood at 167 billion yen or $1.6 billion. despite the fall, it means the monthly balance has remained in the black for six years. officials say exports shrank by more than 25%, including automobiles. the nation's travel account

surplus faired worse, down 90% for the month. the figure represents the amount foreign visitors spend in japan minus what japanese travelers spend overseas. the number of global coronavirus cases has topped 20 million. infections are rapidly rising in countries around the world. the latest figures from johns hopkins university also say the global death toll is over 730,000. the united states has the largest number of confirmed cases at over 5 million. it has reported more t than 160,000 deataths. infections have picked up in a number of countries, such as israel and japan that eased social restrictions after a decline in infections. israel marked a daily high of more than 2,300 last month. other countries like india and columbia experienced a steady

increase in cases. infections in india are now rising at a faster rate than in the u.s. the head of the world health organization said he is alarmed by the spread of infection, but he also noted measures employed by countries such as new zealand, which were able to contain the virus with early action, provide good exaxamples for other leaders to follow. police in hong kong have arrested ten people, including the prominent pro-democracy activist agnes chow, for suspected violations of the territory's new national security law. among citizens there is a growing sense of a crisis. hong kong media reported the arrests on monday. chow was a founding member of the pro-democracy group demosisto, which sought to build international support for democracy in hong kong. but the group disbanded at the end of june, the day the national security law took

effect. media tycoon jimmy lai was also arrested. he founded a newspaper critical of beijing. police say he and the other suspects colluded with foreign forces to harm national security. but they did not elaborate on the alleged violations. lai is known for his efforts to raise international awareness about issues related to hong kong. he visited the u.s. in july last year and met with secretary of state mike p pompeo. lai also faces charges for his involvement in an unauthorized event in june commemorating the 1989 tiananmen square incident. he and a dozen others have been detained for inciting people to take part. >> translator: they made a new national security law to arrest people who have opposing beliefs and prevent the people of hong kong from raising their voices. >> translator: i'm angry. hong kong is not what it used to be. the arrest of prominent

activists last night is a warning to media not to criticize the chinese government. >> the round of arrests are the latest moves by the hong kong police to crack down on prominent activists and people linked to foreign countries since the law took effect. u.s. secretary of state has slammed the arrests. he says, mike pompeo that is, says china has eviscerated hong kong's freedoms and eroded the rights of its people. on twitter, pompeo said he is deeply troubled by jimmy lai's arrest under what he called a draconian national security law. japan's top government spokesperson says his government continues to watch the situation with grave concern. >> translator: hong kong is an extremely important partner for japan due to our close economic ties and exchanges between people. japan has consistently stressed the need for hong kong to maintain its free and open

system and develop in a stable and democratic matter under the one country, two systems framework. >> suga added that tokyo will continue to work closely with other countries and respond appropriately. china is defending the arrests of media tycoon jimmy lai. its foreign ministry office in the territory urged people in hong kong to immediately stop smearing the law's implementation under the pretext of press freedom. it also said there is no such thing as absolute press freedom above the law anywhere in the world. u.s. health and human services secretary alex azar hit out at the world health organization and china for blocking efforts to restore taiwan's observer status to the organization. >> the united states has aggressively pressed for the last four years to restore taiwiwan's role as an observrve. but the chinese communist party and the world health

organization have prevented that. >> azar became the highest-ranking u.s. official to visit taiwan since the u.s. severed plplomatic t ties wi the island more ththan fouour deded ago. he met with president tsai ing-wen and other cabinet members leading taiwan's fight against the coronavirus. taiwan had participated in the w.h.o.'s annual assembly as an observer starting in 2009, but it has not been invited since 2017, one year after tsai's democratic progressive party took power. during the meeting, tsai called beijing's efforts to block taiwan's participation highly regrettatable and said politica factors should not outweigh the basic human right to health. the u.s. has already notified the u.n. that it will withdraw from the w.h.o. next july. it has accused the organization of favoring china. a south korean defense

ministry official says the united states and south korea are scheduled to begin joint military exercises on sunday. they are likely to draw protests from north korea, which has repeatedly criticized such drills as provocative. the official said on tuesday that the joint chiefs of staff are preparing for the drills which will last until august 28th. no details of the exercise have been disclosed, but they are expected to focus on computer-simulated command post training. south korean media say the drills will be greatly scaled back, as the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for u.s. troops based on the u.s. mainland and in japan to participate. the u.s. and south korea normally hold joint military exercises every spring and summmmer. this year, the springtime exercises were called off due to coronavirus infections among soldiersrs on both s sides.

lebanon's prime minister hassan diab has announced the resignation of his government amid growing criticism over a devastating explosion in beirut. >> translator: today we follow lebanese people's calls for change and to hold accountable thosose responsible for this disaster. >> the country has been mired in chaos since the explosion ripped through the capital last week. at least 158 people were killed and more tn n 6,000 othehers injured. the cause of the explosion is still unclear, but it has come to light that huge amounts of ammonium nitrate was stored in a warehouse at the port. it had been confiscated by the government and stored for a long time. the chemical can be used to make explosives. many are blaming the blast on lax oversight by the government.

>> translator: unlesess we find out who is respoponsible, we cannnnot forget, a and the vict can never restst in peace. >> translator: bureaucrats responsible for many deaths are still clinging to their posts. i want t them to go away. why don't they understand that they killed people? >> even before the blast, anger against the government was already running high over an economic crisis and corruption. massive anti-government protests have continued since saturday in the capital. casualties have been reported. u.s. president donald trump says he wants to delay the g7 summit until after the presidential election in november. >> i sort of am now suggesting -- i told my people yesterday actually, why don't we do it sometime after the

election when things are a little bit -- you have a little more time to think about it because it's very important. the g7's very important. >> t the u.s. holds the presesiy of the g7 this year. previously trump said the summit would be held as early as september. at the same press briefing, trump was abruptly escorted out of the room. he returned several minutes later saying there had been a shooting outside the white house compound. he said a person had been shot by the secret service and taken to hospital. trump added that no one else was injurered and that he had been taken to the oval office just in case. it's rare for a presidential briefing to be interrupted. ♪

here's a look at the three-day forecast for cities around the world.

♪ ♪ one more story before we go.

as sweltering weather continues in japan, monkeys at a small zoo have been treated to some frozen delicacies. japanese macaque monkeys were presented with a 50 centimeter tall piece of ice studded with fruit at the zoo in fukui city on the sea of japan coast. the centerpiece came with icy bowls filled with seasonal treats. the monkeys were soon digging in to some of their favorites with watermelon, apple, and banana all on offer. children were invited to use bamboo sticks to give the animals yeyet more fruit. >> translator: t the fruit shou help them feelel good, even in this heat. >> providing icy morsels to the monkeys is an annual event at the zoo. the scene is a visual feast for the many families visiting dung the heat of summer. that's it for this hour of nhk "newsline."

i'm ai uchida in tokyo. from all of us in the newsroom, thanks for staying with us. welcome to "newline in depth." the coronavirus continues to spread. in mid july the total number of global cases topped the 30 million mark. recently tokyo has had more than 200 new infections on several consecutive days. around the world, efforts are continuing to bring the pandemic under control. the challenge is to secure enough hospital beds so effective therapeutic drugs and develop responsive trkt.

in the u.s. which has the largest number of cases in the world, researchers are going all out to develop a vaccine. while the main focus has been on existing drugs or developing new ones, doctors have also turned to a long established method that uses one specific component of human blood. developing this treatment depends on the cooperation of covid-19 survivors as we see in our first report. >> this yellow liquid is called plasma. it's extracted fro human blood. doctors in the u.s. are taking it from peoeoe who survived the coronavirurus to treat v victimo are still ininfected. they call it convalescent plplaa therapy. >> it is encouraging, i it is optimistic based on history, and it's r relatively safe. it's one of the best options that we have. >> researchers say this type of

treatment has been around for more than 100 years, since the time of the spanish flu pandemic. they say it was effective in the sars and mers outbreaks. health experts in hong kong suggest that 40% of sars patients receiving it were able to recover. doctors around the world have been using it as a treatment of last resort for severely ill patients and are starting clinical trials to see how effective it really is. as of july 9th, the coronavirus has infected more than 3 million people in the u.s., so doctors anticipate they'll have an ample supply of plasma. researchers have already started screenining covid-1-19 patatien antibodies. > the recovered patients hav been so vital to our efforts, from developing diagnostic treatments to potentially

developing treatments for the disease. >> the study motivated people who have recovered to mobilize and help. diana baron founded a g group called survivor core. >> if we could gather together a national m movement that we as collective could truly change the course of this pandemic's history. >> in just one month 40,000 people have joined forces. berrent and other members have been regularly donating their plaza. >> there are not many times in a lifetime that you have the opportunity to safe a live. in a couple weeks you'roing to be able to be a survivor a a you'll bee ablble to be a superhero. >> repter:r: researcrs at coluia universy hav already used the plasma to develop the new treatment, called hyper immune immuno globulin it's made

by purifying plasma to extract antibodies. it's safer and more s stable th using the plasma itself. >> you put the r right amount o antibodies in e each vial which can be shipped out all across the country or acrosss the w wo to potentially treat people. vulnerable peoplple out there w could benefit from getting the hyper immunoglobulin to help them get through their illness or to survive. >> reporter: researchers hope that the century-old treatment can become a new weapon in the fight against covid-19. nhk world, new york. results from clinical trials of this blood plasma antibody treatment were due this month but have been delayed. meanwhile the doctor hopes clinical trials of hyper immune immuno globulin will start from late summer to a treatment can be made available by autumn or winter. there is growing support for the

anantibody treatment around the u.s. the american red cross is asking survivors to donate blood plasma with the support of the fda. next we turn to thailand which has so far managed tok eep the number of daily infections low, although the central government's state of emergency is due to last until the end of july, travel restrictions from some opportunities were lifted earlier this month and economic activities gradually resuming. even so, the number of new covid-19 cases has been less than ten a day for most of the past month. in part thihis is due to the efforts of volunteers, especially in rural areas where health care is not so readily available. >> translator: thais can thank community health care volunteers for their freedoms. they're trained by professssion health care workers and stationed in every village of the country.y. there are a mill bun of them nationwide.

each volunteer oversees about 15 to 20 households. >> they make regular visits to check on their health, track down their cases and mail sure those who may be infected quarantine at home. information is gathered by the volunteers and is handed through hospital staff and health officials who can use it to tune their antivirus campaign. >> translator: the volunteers are a great tool for us to obtain the information. they are often more familiar with the community. >> reporter: this man works as a driver at a bank, he's been a neighborhood volunteer for more than 15 years. he says he's happy to serve the community.

>> translator: on each visit we follow up on people's health conditions and educate them. we also ask if they have protective gear which we can provide if needed. >> reporter: education is a key tool on the front line of the epidemic. somchai and his colleagues teach about the coronavirus and make sure they follow goverernment instructions. >> translator: everybody is scared of the virus. so when we tell them what to do, they listen to us because we are close to the people in the community. >> translator: i learn a lot from them. i don't know much, so when they teach me, i listen to them. i try to do what they tell us to do.

>> reporter: the government is now preparing to roll out more reopening measures, but health officials say volunteers will keep knocking on doors, reminding people to wash their hands an maintain social distancing in public spaces. >> translator: we have to adapt to a new way of living. the volunteers are an important part of the process to familiarize people with those norms. >> reporter: the volunteers are now set on preventing a second wave of infections to make sure the communities stay healthy and safe. nhk world, thailand. >> for many years thailand has had to work on reducing the health care disparity. medical volunteers have played an essential role on containing the pandemic and will continue their work to prevent the second wave of infections. many in many countries may be reluctant to get medical

checkups after fear of contagion while visititing the hospital. inin japan, a recent program is reducing the amount of time people need to wait to see a doctor. >> repororter: at this clinic patient consultations begin with a special tablet. the patient answers questions about their symptoms, the same way they w would do a a doctor. the questions are based on a huge aiai database after studyi more than 50,000 medical research papers. after the patientnt has answere about 20 questions, the system converts the answer into a medical form and generates a list of possible illnesses and other likelihood. this information is then sent to a dococtor's computer. this clinic introduced the system in april last year. the original idea was to reduce

the paperwork for doctors. now, the software has been fine-tuned to fight the covid-19 pandemic and now allows patients to fill out the smart questionnaire on the internet before arriving at the clinic. for this patient onlnle access was one reaeason shehe decided see a doctor. >> transnslator: i it's unnervio go to the hospital while there's a pandemic, so i'm r relieved tt i can fill out an ai medical questionnaire at home. it reduces myy risk of getting infected by shohortening the amount of time i spend in the waiting room. i think it makes quite a big difference.

>> translator: i think it's a great tool. by collecting information from patients at home, we can reduce the amount of time they spend at the clinic. this means that people who need to come to the hospital are less likely to hesitate about seeking medical care. >> reporter: thiss comny developed a system used by more than 200 medical facilities aroundnd japan. several doctors are on the development teteam. they added some new features aimed at stopping t the spread the e coronavirus inin hospital. for exexample,e, the software w now s send doctors on alert if believes the patient could be infefected with the coronavirus. currently the ai never stops learning, making possible a fast response to viruses in the future.

>> t translator: as a covid-19 countermeasure, we want to boost ai accuracy by reviewing newly published data on the virus. >> reporter: smart questionnaires are not the only solution to making hosostals safer against covid-19, but they're a promising start. nhk world. >> the company that developed the system is continuously adding new data to improve its accuracy incorporating coronavirus research in china and the rest as well as japan. it has also developed an app that's already been downloaded by 200,000 people which diagnoses possible illnesses based on their symptoms and directing them to the nearest suitable hospital. it's been updated to include a diagnosis for covid-19. with no vaccine or treatment in sight, it becomes imperative that we step up cooperation and the sharing of information

before we are involved by the second and third waves of the coronavirus. thank you for watching and see you again next time.

♪ >> and opposition leader flees sunday'sests over disputed election in belarus, this as violence continues to rock the country. macro leads a defense video conference on niger and the coronavirus crisis -- emmanuel macron leads a defense videoconference. covid trialsp, shows multiple warnings about ex