Hello and welcome to nhk newsline. Im Yoshi Ogasawara in tokyo. We start this hour in new york where the United Nations is canceling all inperson General Assembly Committee Meetings scheduled for tuesday. It comes after five people of a mission of a member state tested positive for the coronavirus. Its not immediately clear which member state is involved but the u. N. Said it is conducting contact tracing. The cancelations likely mean the Committee Vote on a japansponsored resolution to abolish Nuclear Weapons will be postponed. Most u. N. Staff that operate out of the new york headquarters have been working remotely since march. But more people have been returning to the office since july. Meanwhile, a top official at the World Health Organization is expressing concern about the latest surge of infections sweeping across europe. We are seeing very, very high positivity rates and an increasing lack of capacity to do any effective form of contact tracing. The two countries with the high
The milestone comes as officials caution there may be a possible shortage of hospital beds for covid19 patients. The Health Ministry released data on wednesday showing that tokyo and the prefectures of aomori, fukushima and okinawa hit stage three on hospital bed availability. That is the second most serious stage. It means major problems could arise in the medical system. The numbers were current as of october 20th. Officials in fukushima said later they had enough beds as of tuesday. In another troubling sign, the Positivity Rate for pcr tests in aomori hit 10. 7 pour the week through october 18th. Translator the situation is different prefture to prefecture, but it appears the number of new cases is steadily increasing in some areas, so we have to be on our toes. The pad is also affected myanmars general election. Citizens aged 60 and over can vote early to reduce the risk of infection. One w did that is the countrys de facto leader awning sung suu kyi who is 75. She went thursday t
Late june, but the spread of infection began to decline. The downward trend is slowing, and at the moment the situation is unpredictable. We will do everything to prevent an explosive increase in infections and protect Peoples Health and lives. We will also resume social activities and revitalize the economy. Suga says the government plans to Bolster Capabilities so Global Economic activities can safely resume. He says the aim is for 20,000 people, notably from business and educational sectors, to be able to enter the country every day by the end of next month. Suga also says his administration is trying to secure enough vaccines to supply all citizens by the first half of next year. The Ruling Coalition is hoping to pass legislation to secure coronavirus vaccines by the end of the diet session, running until december 5th. He also talked about the olympics and paralympics, wanting to ondcuct them in a safe and secure manner. On the subject of climate change, suga announced he wlli aim
Of businesses and hundreds of govements, all felt on our shoulders. Now, i think we can see light at the end of the tunnel. The messenger rnabased vaccine is considered a revolutionary, new approach, intended to boost the production of antibodies. The trial is still ongoing, and pfizer says data could change. But it plans to apply for emergency use ahorization as soon as possle. Pfizer expects toroduce upo 50 million vaccine doses globally this year, and up to 1. 3 doses next year. The company has agreed to supply japan with doses of the vaccine for 60 Million People by the end of next june. Experts welcomed the First Successful interim data from a largescale clinical test, but they say they need to know more details, especially about the vaccines safety. Right now,ere told 90 effica efficacy, but were not quite sure what that means. Does that mean preventing any illness, just serious illns . What about the transmission . Does the vaccine prevent tranission . We need a lot more informa
Of new cases had been flat or decreasing since a peak in early august, but the number has begun creeping up. The panel noted increases in hokkaido, tohoku and northern kanto regions as well as parts of okinawa. They say its a result of infection clusters and people visiting or leaving tokyo and the surrounding prefectures where there is no drop in infection rates. But the number of hospitalizations remains flat nationwide and the number of patients in serious condition is reportedly decling. The experts say provincial entertainment districts and expat communities could become super spreader sis teand they are calling for more Health Notices and tests in those areas, and they warn japan could see the kinds of explosive spread of infections in europe unless infections are dealt with. In australia authorities in the state of victoria have lifted coronavirus restrictions in and around the city of melbourne for the first time in about four months. Three, two, one. Whoo the city has been und