Days to reach 100,000 cases and the third 100,000 just four days. Governments arere wrappining up measures in response. Uk Prime Minister johnson announced a strict lockdown. People will only be allowed to leavee h home foror essenential shoppingng or exexercise. Police have the power to fine anyone who disobeys. In france the Prime Minister said lockdown measures scheduled to end march 31st could be extended for several more weeks. French people who to out currently need a form that explains why. Those who fail to comply face a fine of 150. The government says that beginning tuesday people will only be allowed to exercise once a day within a kilometer of their home. He added that open air market, should be closed. Translator i cant be ignorant of the Current Situation when i see what happens in italy. I think following the governments advice is the best thing for everyone. Egypt has closed tourist spots. Translator stores and souvenir shops are closed. Im sure that people are affected economically. I italy reported more than 6 fatalities on monday. And the death toll is n n overr 6,000, the highest of any country in the world. Meanwhile, the city at the center of the outbreak may have reason to be optimistic. Officials in Hubei Province said theyll lift travel restrictions on the residents starting april. The announcement comes after they reported the fifth consecutive day with no newly confirmed cases. The city has been shut down for two months. Meanwhile, trump says that asianamericans shouldnt be blamed for the coronavirus. It is totally important that we protect our asianamerican community all around the United States and around the world. The spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape or form. Trump has been criticized for labelling it the chinese virus. He denied that the term creates a stigma and told reporters it came in china. Asians in countries have been facing harassment. At least a dozen u. S. States have issued stay a home orders. Its the Third Largest number after china and italy. Washington, d. C. s iconic cherry trees are in full bloom but few people are visiting the tidal pace up as officials try to keep the crowds away. Researchers at a University Say initial results could be available in a matter of weeks. The National Institutes of health has been leading a program to test the experimental ebola drug. Remdesivir. Dr. Andre kalil from the university of Nebraska Medical Center says so far about 80 patients are taking part in the trial with half of them given the drug and the other halflf a placebo. I i would probablbly say in next two to three weeks we should be able to look at the results of the first 100 patients. But he warns there is a possibility of unwanted side effects. He said giving any medication thats not tested and approved would create more risk than benefit for patients with mild symptoms. He said the drug should only be used for patients with higher risk of death. Exexperts say that a Clinical Trial of fourr experimental treatments began on sunday. It involves remdesivir and three other drugs and i it will targe 3,200 inpatients in s six europn countries including france and britain. The data will be provided to the w. H. O. Here in japan the confirmed infections is over 1,000 on tuesday, not including more than 700 cases from the diamond princess cruise ship. 52 people have died. Japans lower rate of domestic infection and deaths compared to other nations have some in the country feeling optimistic. As the next report shows, Health Professionals are warning that the full extent of the virus strength isnt known yet. Translalator this man in hi 70s f from hokkaido prefectcturs recovered from the virus, but his memories havent faded. Translator i had a fever and i was coughing so bad. I had no idea what was going to happen to me. I even thought i may not come out of this alive. Reporter his wife also became infectioned and they were both hospitalized. While they recovered w with treatment used for aids patients, they still dont know how they contracted the virus or who they may havave infected. Translator m may pass itit to others again. I was terrified others may have been infected because of me. Reporter that fear of the viruss potential invisible power has the japans Foreign Ministry to set up a team to tackle the clusters. Leading the team is a professor at the university who was a w. H. O. Adviser on the front lines of the global sasars outbreak in 2003. Traranslator confirmed case are on the rise in japan, but itss still not an explosive spread of the virus, but we really dont know how much longer we can hold out. Reporter the priority is gathering information on infected groups of five or more people known as clusters. As of march 17th, clusters have been confirmed in 13 places in japan. There are three common characteristics of a cluster. They occur in an enclosed space where theres poor ventilation where people gather and interactions happen at a close distance. Places like this must be avoided experts say. But the professor is worried as more cases are being reported as the source is unknown. Translator it seems many people think things are under control in japan, but that is totally not what were feeling based on the situation were seeing now. Reporter while the National Government continues to request people to exercise caution when holding large scale events, a mixed martial arts event was attended by 6,500 people. The tokyo metropolitan government appears to be more wary and says measures including lockdown are under consideration if the s situation getets worse translator there are many young People Living in tokyo and its easy for them to infect othersrs and cause clusterers without showing symptoms. I appeal to everyone in tokyo especicially young people to ta this more seriously. Reporter with the Health Ministrys cluster team continuing to track and try to source cases, Health Experts say the possibility of a larger scale outbreak could be just around the corner. The head of the International Olympic committee and japans Prime Minister will speak tuesday for the first tite since both parties floated the idea of postponing the 2020 games. Prime minister shinzo abe will talk to thomas bach by phone. The call comes amid speculation the coronavirus pandemic will push the games to be pushed back. Also expected on the call is yuriko koike. Abe is expected to ask bach to decide on a timeline as soon as possible. This week the ioc said that could take up to to four weeksk. The canadian and the Australian Olympic committees will not send athletes if the games go on as planned this summer. The athletes were surveyed about the situation and more than 70 said its not possible for the games to be held on a fair Playing Field if they continue as scheduled. The Committee Said postponement is the most promising path given the disruptions to training,g, doping controls, and the qualification process. A Group Representing potential olympic competitors is calling on athletes to stop training and observe government mandates to selfisolate. They say four weeks is just too long to wait. But one ioc member says that the decision has already been made. Dick pound told usa today the games will b be postponed and t ramifications will be immense. Well, despite all that japanese game organizers will make some major changes to the planned torch relay. When it kicks off this thursday, there will be fewer spectators, and the flame may have a new method of transportation. Organizers are considering using a lantern instead of the traditional torch. The countrywide e event is set start in fukushima, a prefecture devastated by the 2011 disaster. Officials say the lantern would travel by car and spectators wont be allowed to gather on the street and drive by. Its sad for torch bearers. Tatack Yuichi U Ueno lost his fy in the disaster and he wanted to run. Translator i hope i get a chance to run again. It would be sad if this is the end. Organizers havent told him about any changes yet, so for now hes continue preparing as if nothing has changed. Many japanese universities have canceled the graduation ceremonies to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The university of tokyo drastically reduced the size of the ceremony and streamed it live on the internet on tuesday. Usually the universitys Commencement Ceremony at the yasada university was attended by 3,000. In front of the campus graduates who came to receive diplomas were seen taking photos and watching the ceremony on their smartphones. Translator i wanted to participate in the ceremony, but its also a memorable experience to take pictures of everyone. Translator my parents took paid holidays to be at the graduation ceremony. But i told them they cannot attend. Its a pity they cannot come to the ceremony. Ill show them the pictures i took today. The university of tokyo has also canceled an enrollment ceremony scheduled for next month. It plans to hold some Classes Online and reduce facetoface contact with the new Academic Year which starts in april. Now turning to southeast asia, where some people are using their sense of humor to combatat the virus. Theyre e performing song and dance on social media and their message is going viral. One video by Railway Employees in thailand reminds people to wear masks, wash their hands, and keep a safe distance from others. Earlier in march they performed a dance at a station in central bangkok where they handed out masks and sanitizers. The health ministrtry spokespern says even though evereryone is worried about the virus, Prime Ministers like this can go a long way to raising public awareness. Translator a sense of humor is one thing that can help us overcome this crisis. Meanwhile in Vietnam HealthMinistry Officials have changed their lyrics to a local pop song and paired it with an animated music video. They called on people to wash their hands thoroughly to avoid transmission. The songs catatchy melodyy and simple lyrics have struck a chord with people of all ages. We movove now to the pololil scscandal involving thehe forme Justice Minister and his lawmaker wife. Prosecutors have violated them on chaharges of violating electn laws. The couple in question is lower house lawmaker and former Justice MinisterKatsuyuki Kawai and his wife, anri kawai. Prosecutors on tuesday indicted Hiroshi Tatemichi a secretary for anri what kay and shinsuke takaya. Theyre seeking to nullify anri kawais win based on guilt by association. The two men are suspected of playing the anris Campaign Staffers double the legal limit last year. Hiroshi tatemichi has admitted to the charges. The Hiroshima District Court h s been asked to rule on it. If one of the aides is convicted and the court recognizes the secretary and the Campaign Manager for anri kawai she could lose her diet seat. The couple both belong to the ruling liberal democratic party. Anris Election Campaign received strong support from Prime Minister shinzo abe. Following the indictments anri kawawai apolologized for c caus public concern and said shell closely watch how the trial proceeds. Fair weather prevails here in the greater tokyo area. Here with more on localal and International Conditions is jonathan oh. Hi, james. Yeah, we still had a brereezy d and it was relatively dry here in tokyo. I think well be seeing a calmer and warmer day as we go into wednesday. Then by the time we get to thursday and friday in tokyo highs are getting close to 20, if not above 20 degrees. We saw snow as we had the northwesterly flow up running through and we saw the snow taking place. Now we have a High Pressure system coming into the picture, it will push that cold air more toward the east and then back toward the west the southerly flow will help to push up the temperatures so well see the temperatures climb up. Highs in 20s in places like fukuoka on wednesday. We will see moisture that will return and will bring in additional rainfall on thursday. Then other areas of japan seeing rain by friday. But again, much warmer temperatures coming up into the picture as we go into the latter part of this week. I mentioned the rain thats going to be coming into the picture by the latter part of the week. Thats already impacting the southern areas of china because when you have calm, stable air, but the warm air coming in and it moves up against that, the moisture tends to evaporate and then lead to the instability. We will be seeing that chance for rain expanding into places like shanghai. I. Wewe will see some rain in plac and then it continues to spread eastward for the rest of the week. We are talking about the strong winds impacting the Northern Areas of the continent. We have this cold front and low pressure system moving into the northwestern portions of europe. We will be seeing the windy weather continuing as we go forward in time and showers will move their way in. It will take a couple of days to get there. But nevertheless, thats goingn to be part of the scenario as we go throughout the next few days. Now, before we go, i want to show you something that was beautiful in the sky over i i fn laland as the Northern Lights l up the area over finland on friday night. This footage taken at the capital known as the quote unquote official home of santa claus. Spring is one of the best season for the aurora borealis. I hope you have a good day wherever you are. Walking us through the Business Development front is ramin mellegard, coming up next. Tokyos shahare prices saw e largest rise in more tn four years onuesday. Ba of japans purchases to prop up mkets put investors in the bing move. The nikkei average ended at 18,092, a gain of over 1,200 points and expectations for the u. S. Congress to approve the 2 trillion aid package also pushed up the index. Softbank Group Stock Price rose 19 . Investors scooped up the shares after it announced plans to sell assets and buying back shares. Most of the markets in the asiapacific region rebounded. The benchmark in seoul surged 8. 6 . Singapore was up 5. 8 . Sydney and hong kokong each gaid more thann 4 . This is newsline biz, im ramin mellegard. So toyota and ntt have a plan to move things along to developing a socalled smart city. The two companies will takake about 200 billion yen nexext montnth. Thats about 1. 8 billion. Toyota will acquire a about 2 ntt shares and ntt will take nearly 1 of toyota. Translator r the idea of connecting a socalled connected city is becoming more and more essential. It would cononnect society, peoples lives and automobiles. Translator we hope to create new social infrastructure by teaming up with toyota. The two companies are going to team up on a wide range of mobile services and it would combine toyotas next generation technologies like selfdriving with expertise in the communications infrastructure. They have been in an intense global race for advanced technologies. These are known as connected autonomous shared and electric. And the two firms are apparently getting together to take the smart city concept to the next level. Toyota actually entered the Telecommunications Industry in the 1980s it joined up with other firms to set up Long Distance and mobile carriers. These were predecessors to what is kddi a major rival of nnt group. But new vehicle features have prompted toyota to look for broader collaborationsns. Toyota p partnered with ntt in 2017 to work on connected cars at. The firms are Testing Communications infrastructure that would enable cars to use the high Speed Wireless Technology th alsooorked whh softbank last year a set up a Mobility Services venture called monet technogigies. Meananwhile in n 2018, ntt t ou arted testing a smaity in lavegas. It was commerclized lt year and the company is running tests in malaysia as well. Ntt is conducting research and development on 6g networks which would follow 5g. Samsung and huawei lead the way in 5g, but ntt is trying to get to 6g before the expected launch around 2030. The interernational monetar fundnd says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to cause a worldwdwide recession this year. The outltlook for g global gh for 2020, it is negative. A recession at least as bad as during the Global Financial crisis o or worse. The economy will probably recover in 2021. In february when the virus had yet to reach the pandemic level the imf forecast 3. 2 , higher than the previous year. Meanwhile, major u. S. Financial groups aring record declines in the u. S. Any. Goldman sachs annualized growth rates of minus 6 in the First Quarter of this year. And minus 24 in the second quarter. It says thats the largest quarterlrly decline since the u. Began measuring gdp in the current form and the firm says the contractions may send unemplployment rateses soaring thee current 3. 5 to 9 in comig quarters. The bank of america says it expects gdp to shrink by 12 in the second quarter. Jpmorgan chase is forecasting 14 . Sales at Department Stores in japan dropped sharply in february. Industry officials says fewer people are shopping due to the coronavirus outbreak. The japan Department StoresAssociation Says overall sales dropped more than 12 from a year earlier. The Association Says tax repurchases by foreign shoppers dropped to onethird. Some Department Stores are reporting even steeper declines for this month. Their sales during the first half of the month dropped about 40 while tax free purchases plunged around 80 . But the japan chain Stores Association says sales in supermarkets are up. Its reporting a 4 jump from a year earlier. This is the first year over year monthly increase since september, just before the consumption tax increase. The Association Says sales of rice and frozen food have increased as more people stay in and work from home. Japanese officials are thinking about issuing additional deficit covering bonds to finance a massive amount of stimulus measures. Now the planned fiscal spending would be aimed at propping up the economy which is being hammered by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The government and the Ruling Coalition are discussing handing out cash and coupons as well as stepping up Financial Support for companies. The Ruling Coalition is seeking a bigger stimulus package than the more than 500 billion worth of measures used to deal with the 2008 Global Financial crisis. Government expenditures accounted for more than 130 billion of that amount. But the new bonds would likely be traded in a depressed market. Sovereign debt is underselling the worsening health of the other countries and theyll be gauging the dependency on the bonds for the next stimulus package. Okay, lets get a check on the markets. Britain goes into lockdkdowns the governor announces a round of sweeping restrictions including the banning of any groups of more than two people. France places tight restrictions on movement as the death toll reaches 860 with a number of people requiring lifesupport rising 20 . As billions find themselves being ordered to stay at home creativity is becoming the namee of thehe game in keeping everyby entertained