For the nextxt montth, we must whatever we can to reduce social contact by 800 . So in adddition to the rereques to r refrain from m nonessennti outings, we have decided to issue temporary facacility andd business closure requests. The list includes educational facilities, karaaoke bars,s, parlors, sports clubs, theaters, internet caves and game a arcad. Rerestaurantss and b bars willl askedd to close byby 8 00 p. P. M. Koioike says businesses that ae by the request will be eligible for financial aid. Essentially Services Like supermarkets, Public Transit and even hotels will remain open. The announcement comes three days after the Central Government declared a state of emergency for tokyo and six other prefectures, the governors of kanagowa, and osaka are considering requests to shut down businesses. Governors in other parts of the nation have declared an emergency on their own, and have asked the Central Government to extend itss declaration to thei prefectures. More than 5,900 people have tested positive across japan. The tally does not include 712 cases linked to the diamond princess cruise ship quarantine near tokyo earlier this year. 122 people have died, including 11 from the ship. Among those confirmed to be infected here in japan are professional athletes. While the virus has forced the postponement or cancellaation Sports Events or cultural festivalings. A junior wrestler tested positive on friday. The governing body has decided to delay the next start of the tournament in tokyo by two weeks until may 24th. It says the event could be held without speck taylotators or ca all together. The march tournament went ahead in a quiet atmosphere without a live audience. Major events scheduled for this summer have already been cancelled including tokyos fireworks festival and the countrys biggest summer festival, in northeastern japan has also been cancelled. Its the first time thats happened since the end of world war ii. As infections spread across the country, the japanese government says its postponing two ceremonies to claim crown prince as heir to the thrown. We have decided to make arrangements to postpone the ceremonies following the declaration of the state of emergency. Suga said the ceremonys committee will set a new schedule for the event. The ceremonies for the proclamation were due on april 19th at the imperial palace in tokyo. One of japans first confrontations with the coronavirus was more than two months ago when the diamond princess crude ship docked at a port neear tokyo. Our next story looks at one of the victims from the vessel and his wifes efforts to make sure his memory lives on. Nhk has agreed to conceal the couples identity. It was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, the japanese couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary traveling across asia and for the first two weeks, it was. Translator but soon after her 75yearold husband exhibited symptoms similar to a cold. On february 1st, he developed a runny nose and a cough. Two days later, he had a fever, chest pains and wasnt able to get out of bed. Just over a week later, he was rushed to hospital. Both of them tested positive for the new coronavirus. The woman was also hospitalized with mild symptoms for three weeks. When she got out, she rushed to check on her husband who was being treated at an intensive care unit. Unable to speak to him, somebody else had to deliver her final message to her husband. After he passed, his body was placed in a specially treated bag, and then cremated. She says not haaving a a proro gogoodbye hurt so mmuch. Despite her grief, shehe says is immportant to sshare herr famil story. Shes also made sure her husbands legacy will live on. She donated his blood to research in the hoopes that it could shed light on the virus and eventually lead to possible treatments. Moving now to the United States, doctors in hospitals across new york have been bracing for the worst as the number of coronavirus cases steadily grew and fatalities in the state topped 7,000. Now they find themselves at the center of a crisis with no end in sight. Nhks spoke with two doctors on the front lines in new york about how to protect yourself and your community during the pandndemic. Drdr. Iskawawa what cann oth cities learn f from the experiee in new y york . So this is, i think, a chillling viruss, and imm no scarinng but its killing. And i work toto i wouuld lio ask all the community, all the people, you know, pleasee stay home, stay hhome, stay h home. Okay. If yoyou stay home, thats goin to prevent thee surge. Thats gogoing to p prevent the huge, like, t thats going to prevent a n numberer of patient cocoming to the hosspitalal at same timee. Okkay. And thats going toto protectct healtth care providers. And eventtually, you know, thats goinng to save liveves. Thats g going to save your father, your mother, your grandmother, grandfathehers lives. There is a limitation on the ventilators. There is a limitationn of thee u beds, soso if thatat haappens, ccannot offer we cannot offe the best service, best m medica care for all the papatients, so sometetimes we can as the fron line providers, we have to decide. We haveve to deciide a v very c and brutal decisision. Okay. So im should i provide a a ventitilator for this patient o nott. Shouldd i give ann icuu bed wit those elderly people. E. Those patieients, you know,w, ththeyre vvery high liikelihoo yyou know, toto die. At what point t should somem go to thehe hoospital . If you haveve diffficulty i talkingg a couple of senentencen a roow withthout breathing. If yyou have to breathe a coupl of times each timme after you speak like a sentence, helello, do have difficululty brereathin then thatss the time. Some patienents talk aboutut asymptomatic patients, some of them arennt even aware that theyre c contraccted the virus. Whatat do you recommend people . You know, yyou have t to as anybody, all people around you are infected, so whenever you face somebody, that perrson, ths person, is infected and they aae just s smiling without even coughing, just talking to you and that can be the transmission of virus. And actually, i should not forget this, you yourself, myself, can be a patiient already. Y. So t thats whyhy you have to wa mask all the time, and if ppeope stop those extreme cautions and the next moununtain can come aagain, so really have to faste our soul and keep on doing this. As scientists race to develop treatments and a vaccine, researchers in the u. S. Have begun a Clinical Trial to assessed safety and effectiveness of an antimalarial drug causing controversy, the drug is called hydroxychloroquine. The trial involves 500 adults. Some doctors in the United States are administering hydroxychloroquine to patients. The u. S. Food and Drug Administration has approved it for emergency use. President donald trump has been promoting the drug as what he calls a potential weaeapon agait the virus. But clinical d data supporting e drugs effectiveness has so far been very limited. Washingtonss top iinfectious disease expert has called the evidence anecdotal. The withdrawal of u. S. Senator Bernie Sanders from the race for the democratic partys president ial nomination this week is a game changer in the world of u. S. Politics. The move clears the way for former Vice President joe biide whos a moderate to become the democratic nominee to take on President Trump this fall. Nhk asked the former japanese ambassador to the United States about how bidens shot at the white house is unfolding. Vice President Biden was seen as someone whos mostly experienced and whos sort of middle of the road byy many americcans. Fujisaki is presideent of th institute. After representing japan during the administration of barack obama, fujisaki is watching the race closely from tokyo. Biden is popular amongst minorities and has announced he will choose a woman as his Vice President ial candidate. I would predict Amy Klobuchar would be someone who could be representing the middle of the road from midwest and also one more element important is that mr. Biden is going to be over 80 when this term is over. So maybe next president could be a Vice President as well. And he has everyone would be looking at thinking about that. In terms of that, mr. Biden will also think, hey, could she be a president of t president of this country, and Amy Klobuchar i think has that quality sg campaigningg will tae place in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. He doesnt know if that will helplp or hurt bidens chance o victory or the incoupumbent. 50 50, the coronavirus i think would cork both ways for prPresident Trump. P. It giveses a Good Opportunity f him to appear on television every day with leadership and thats good. But on the other side, peoplee rememberr that i in the first pllace, hee said, oh, tits ne big thing, it willl be overr b easter a and all ofof thaat. He tried to make it a smaall issue, which was totally wrong. And fujisaki, theres another possible concern for the trump side. There was what we call hidden trump voters who said in interviews they all say, no, no, i dont go for trump, but in reality, they voted for trump. I think in this case, 2020 may be the opposite of that too. That means that if youre republican, you have to say that youre supporting your incumbent president but in reality if you dont like him, or whatever, thats a lot of possibility, they will say, yes, im going to vote for the person, of course im republican, but will not vote. That could happen, i think. Fujisaki says u. S. Foreign policy could change dramatically if biden wins. M mr. Obaama changed a a l l mr. Bushs policy, including iraq war, and mr. Trump is changing everything mr. Obamama did including ppe, including paris accord, including cuba. Theres no reason why the new president , if its mr. Biden, will stick to an iran deal, paris accord, and those things. I think with japan, the democratic president will not change the course i i think because as we havve seen fromm obama to trump, bushsh to obama it didnt change totally. I think United States needs japan. Japan needs United States, and i think that relations will not change with the president. But the former Ambassador Says many things will change in the lead up to the election as the two likely opponents prepare for an Unprecedented Campaign season amid the coronavirus pandemic. Its now time for a check on the World Weather with our meteorologist jonathan oh. Jonathan, it was a bright but quite a breezy friday for many of us here in tokyo. Whats the outlook looking into the weekend. I would also pick up an umbrella pretty soon. Were looking at wet weather for a good portion of japan. We have a system developing back toward the west thats going to change everything from dry to wet as we go throughout the next few days. Now, we had a cool pattern as we went through this friday, a low pressure system now spinning across japan is moving toward the east, but broadening northerly flow, and we have a much bigger High Pressure system toward the west, upper level cold air coming down into the area which means temperatures are going to be in the midteens for the next few days, and even colder than that as we head into the first part of next week. I mentioned rain developing back toward the west. Theres that stationary front. Thats going to be developing and moving its way toward the east as we go throughout saturday, sunday and even into monday. Looking at the forecast here, the rain expected to move through sunday into monday. Notice the rain picking up and thats going to be the scenario for the weekend and into monday, and then we should start to dry out after that. Heres a look at the forecast, tokyo looking at rain. 15 for the high saturday and sunday, and then look at this, 10. Thats definitely not where were supposed to be for this time of year for monday. Showers also increasing for osaka, wet weekend the first part of next week as well. We broaden out the view. Thats the stationary front developing because of a High Pressure system toward the north. Well be seeing wet weather back over china as well as this system starts to push toward the east. Get ready for rain in places like shanghai as we go through saturday. 14 is all were going to see for the high there. Much warmer up toward the north. Beijing at 24 for saturday. Heres whats happening across north america. We had a frontal system that was moving toward the east. It had a lot of energy with it, and now its developing over the low pressure system is developing over the northeastern areas of the United States, and thats bringing some of that wintry weather. Thats going to push toward the north and east. The eastern areas of canada, youre going to be dealing with a little bit more of a wintry weather scenario at least part of the day friday. Back toward the west, High Pressure is going to keep this relatively calm. For those of you in texas, i would be on the lookout for the tail end of the cold front, what we are expecting as we go throughout the next few days is for a low to develop. Its going to be quite intense as we head toward saturday and sunday, talking about a Severe Weather scenario Going Forward for the next couple of days. Thunderstorms expected in houston friday as well with a high of 22. Dryer in atlanta to d. C. As we go through the day. Thats a look at your forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you aare. That wraps up this edition of nhk newsline, im raja pradhan in tokyo, coming up next is newsline biz with ramin mellegard. Please stay with us. The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on air travel. One of japans Busiest International airports says its closing one of its two runways. The operator of narita airporor near tokokyo says ththe runway be closed from sunday. Its the first time for a runway to close due to a sharp fall in air travel since the airport opened in 1978. This comes after the number of Weekly International flights of the airport plunged by nearly 85 from a year ago. Things are so bad that the airport opperator iis considder giving airlines a moratorium on lananding ffees and other costs. They w will alsso seek ggovernm support as its own operations could be at risk. This is newsline biz. Im ramin mellegard. The pandemic has forced a Japan Airline subsidiary that was going to start operating out of narita next month to postpone its debut. The new low cost carrier zip air, the budgdget aairline saay travel restrictions in japan and thailand it cant expect passenger demand on the route. Zipair says after the virus is under control, it will start the service as early as possible. Japans Auto Industry says its ready to do its part in the coronavirus fight. The heads of four Industry Groups say they will help produce ventilators and offer Financial Support to struggling parts makers. Translator by saying what we are thinking it may encourage peoplple to raiaise their hands work togetherer on the things tt we suggest. If that happens, we could build a faster, stronger movement. We think that is really important in this time of crisis. The big auto groups say they will start making face masks for their own workers to ease the shortage. They will help medical equipment makers turn out ventilators. The industry is considering offering 3,000 rooms at company dormitories and recreation facilities for patients with mild symptoms. They also plan to create a special fund it help struggling parts makers and other enterprises stay afloat. A Japanese Airline operator is thinking about reassigning its idled cabin attendants to a new line of work, making medical gowns. Hospitals in the country may face shortages of the garments in the near future if the coronavirus continues to spread. Ana Holdings Says it would hold discussions with a textile makers. Officials want to their advice how aviation employees with no special sewing skills can be retrained to make the gowns. Thousands of anas flight attendants are taking several days off a month. The carrier is considering a similar redeployment of its ground crew and other staff. Ana Holdings Says its group firms are willing to venture outside their own industry to fight the coronavirus. Finance ministers have agreed on a rescue package to ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The package is worth up to 540 billion euros or 590 billion. The measures include loans to membber nations provided under existing eu frameworks and assistant to firms struggling amid the massive business disruptions, but the ministers are yet to decide whether they will issue so called corona bond and thats a demand that comes from members including italy. Euro zone members have been divided. The hardest hit countries such as italy and spain called for massive aid. Members in the blocks north, including the netherlands were cautious. The pandemic continues to ravage euro zones economy big and smalll. The German Economy is expected to shrink by nearly 10 in the Second Quarter of this year. Crude oil prices so often a bellwether of the Global Economy began a doownward slide in mark driven by collapsing consumption amid the coronavirus pandemic, and in south america, thats casting doubt onon argeentinas boboomingng shale oil industry. This is the mid western argentinian province off nilken. Billboards like this are everywhere. Work to develop shale oil as a new Energy Resource began five years ago with investment from multinationnals in the u. S. S. A around the world. The jobs boom saw a new town spring up near the mining sites where over 16 billion barrels of shale oil are thought to lie. Thats expected to generate exports worth more than 18 billion a year for a decade. And local young people are staking their futures on it. Alberto graduated from high school last october and joioine oil company ype. He makes about 1,800 a month, more than three times what a High School Graduate can usually expect. Translator im happy because i was able to buy a car thanks to my job. I wanted to promoted to a higher position. Carlos avillos mutual fund he moved here from a neighghboring province. He worrks as a guard at an oil facilility and supppports fiviv fafamily members. Translator i can give my children a good life. Im happy to have a job in the oil business. In addition to domestic migrants, workers also began arriving frrom placeses like bolivia, peru, and venezuela this year. Shale oil is a key export for argentina and a valuable source of foreign currency. But the pandemic is putting that in jeopardy. The government has now banned the entry of nonnationals and grounded domestic flights. It aims to help halt the virus, but finding engineers is becoming a problem. Theres also concern that the pandemic may hurt the u. S. Importers who buy argentinas shalele oil. Witith no end to o the crisis i sight, people in the oil industry are beginning to fear for the future of the business they worked so hardrd to build. Ookay. Lets get a check on the markets. And thats it for newsline biz from our tokyo studiosment im ramin mellegard, thank you very much for watching, and stay safe wherever you are. Hello and thanks for joining us here on france 24. Im claire pryde. Christians around the world are unusualing easter in circumstances. Many are beingng urged t to stay watch services being live stream the world over, including in paris at notre dame cathedral. Is only the third ceremony since notre dame w was ravaged y a fire almost a year ago. We will celebrate easter soon celebrate life d