Outbreak t there has peaked. Theyey say half of t those infe have recoverered and left t hospital. Staterun tv also report there are now empty hospital beds in wuhan, the city where the disease is believed to have originated. They say the number of patients released from hospitital is outpacing newly confirmed infectctions in hubebei provinc, where wuhan is located. Researchers in Mainland China say theyre learning more about why the new virus is hard to diagnose. A new paper by a team of chinese researchers analyzed data on about 1,100 patients. It found more than half did not have a fever when they were hospitalized. The vast majority showed mild symptoms. Of those, 18 displayed no abnormalities in tests such as xrays. The researchers say these factors make diagnosing the virus difficult in the early stages. Wuhan is marking 40 days since its lockdown. For residents, the restrictive reregime has become their new reality. One captured by a professional videographer who posted his popular vlogs to chinas social media. Hes also a volunteer in his hometown during the lockdown. We have his story. Reporter for ling, life under lockdown has been reduduc to just the basics. Translator i stillll have t vevegetables i bought a few day ago. I eat very little because there are too many things to work on. I always eat a little randomly, only simple food, like dumplings. Reporter linggs posts cald wuhan diary, began n on januay 23rd and have garnered more than 5 million followers. As a volunteer driver for medical staff, hes seen the impact the coronavirus has had on daily life. Reporter hes also met frustrated apartment residents forced to stay inside. Translator wuhan is not just a city of people who are infected or ill. There are people who are as healthy as i a am. I want to show that all of us in this enclosed environment are experiencing the i impact of th virus, even though were not infected. Repepter ling says the citys strtrength has bebeen te, but seseeing exampleles of peop hehelping othersrs gives him h despite the loneliness. Its a feeling shared by another volunteer driver of medical supplies. Translator when i drive through the city, i feel like im the only car on the road. Its miserable. And sometimes i just cannot help crying while driving. I have to do whatever i can so that wuhan will return to normal sooner. Reporter when ling was delivering donated drugs to patients, he visited the wife of an infected doctor. Translator she told me that her husband was seriously ill and showed me his ct scan. I gave her the medicine. She took it and pretended to be calm, trying to smile. I saw her strong heart at t tha time. And it makes the situation even sadder. After i was really sad in the car and i i cried. Reporter with no official confirmation of when the lockdown might end, lin says the road ahead for wuhan will be difficulult. Translator after everything is ovever, a long recovery peri is bound to be required. This recovery is not only economic recovery but also must include the psychological recovery of people in the city. Reporter while wuhans future is still unknown, lin says the people in the city are clinging to empathy amid the uncertainty and dreaming of Simple Pleasures once unappreciated and now longed for. Reporter yao zinru, nhk world. As economic worries mount over the new virus, japans Prime Minister says policymakers are looking at how to deal with a worstcase scenario. Translator the government will quickly draw up legislation, similar to the spspecial law that exists to combat new types of influenza, to take measures to minimize the outbreaks impact on peoples lives. These measures include the case of a declaration of a state of emergency. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has compiled new guidelines on ways to stop the virus from spreading. They include allowing local governments to ask people with mild symptoms to recover at home if a hospital bed shortage appears likely. At present, all those found to be infected are being hospitalized. The updated plan says virus tests ininreas with h rampant outbreaks w will be carried out only on seriously ill patients. It also calls for setting up medical facilities in each region to cope with infected patients who are pregnant or need dialysis. Child care facilities across japan are facing longer working hours and other challenges after the government called for School Closures to help contain the coronavir coronavirus. Prime minister shinzo abe last week urged schools to close from monday until the start of spring break in late march. Child care facilities are scrambling to cope with for their services from working parents. One facility opened at 8 30 a. M. , five hours earlier than usual. Four extra staffers were on hand to oversee children who would normally have been in school. Nine children showed up. They washed their hands and had their temperature taken before starting their homework. A mother making use of thehe facility said shes glad it was open early as working from home is not an option for her. Translator weve had to make sudden changes to staff work hours. Were having a hard time. The manager went on to say that she and her staff are taking precautions to prevenent the children from infection. Meanwhile, in europe, more than 20 countries are now reporting infections. The hardest hit is italy, where the number of cases jumped on sunday to nearly 1,700 with 34 deaths. The government has effectively locked down nearly a dozen communities in the north, where the outbreak is centered. Schools are closed in areas where mass infections have been confnfirmed. Bars and pubs in these areas are being urged to keep customers at least one meter apart. Venice is in one of the affected regions, leaving the touririst hohotspot largely empty. In france, the number of infected people has reached 130. Officials have closed the Louvre Museum in paris, shut down schools and banned gatherings of more than 5,000 people. They are also advising people against shaking hands or kissing on the cheeks, a customary form of greeting in europe. The decision comes after the french president was seen kissing the italian Prime Minister on the cheeks last week, prompting extensive media coverage. In the middle east, iran now has more than 900 infectitions, maiy in the capital. The death toll has risen to 54, the second highest in the world after Mainland China. We turn now to the philippines, where a hostage situation is unfolding. A gunman has shot and injured one person and taken dozens of others hostage in a mall in the capital. It is in manila. Officials told media the gunman is a former Security Guard who had recently been fired. They say the gunman claims he has a grenade, though officials are yet to confirm that. We are exerting all efforts to resolve this peacefully, and the internet command system has been set up, and we are now doing our very best to resolve this peacefully. The Shopping Complex lies in a residential area. Officials say both shoppers and staff have been evacuated. Switching now to another story that were tracking. The south korean joint chiefs of staff say north korea has launched two unidentified projectiles from the eastern city of wonsan towards the sea of japan. Officials say the projectiles flew about 240 kilometers with an altitude of around 35 kilometers. Japanese government officials believe the projectiles did not fall into its exclusive economic zone. Its not yet clear what was launched. The south Korean Military and its u. S. Counterpart are gathering and analyzing information. The Development Comes after north Korean Leader kim jongun reportedly inspected an artillery drill on friday. Its the first time this year the north has reportedly launched projectiles. The last time the country did so was back in november. It carried out 13 launches in total last year, including a test fire of a submarinelaunched Ballistic Missile in october. Japanese officials said the norths repeated launches are a grave concern to the International Community and they will continue to monitor the country. Its been almost nine years since the great east japan earthquake. For one woman whos made fukushima her adopted home, it was the second major tragedy shes lived through, but she continues to help survivors, warming their hearts with a gift from her native country. Nhk worlds juneats moto has the story. Reporter this isnt just any cup of coffee for marie louise. Its a taste of home. Grown in rwanda, where she was born and raised. For years, she has been making it for people who are forced to flee due to the nuclear accident. When she visits, evacuees gather to talk, helping to build a sense of community. Reporter marie louise first came to fukushima more than 25 years ago to study garmentmaking. After returning to rwanda, war broke out. Then genocide. More than 800,000 people were killed, including her brother. She and her children had to flee for their lives. With the help of friends in japan, they were able to settle in fukushima. Then in 2011, disaster struck again. The magnitude 9. 0 earthquake and tsunami killed thousands. It also triggered a nuclear disaster, forcing tens of thousands of survivors to leave their homes. For marie louise, it brought to mind her experience in rwanda and a promise she had made. I will be using this life to serve whoever needs support. I can m maybe bring hope to somebody else. Reporter so, she has been bringing coffee and encouragement to the displaced, first at the evacuation centers, then at temporary housing facilities. But the last such facility in nihomatsu was demolished in 2013 as evacuees moved into permanent housing. That has meant separating people again. And for marie louise, she lost a place to hold her coffee gathering. After three months withh no caf, marie louise was able to bring people together at a new venue, and there were many faces she had been hoping to see. Oh reporter while these people are still left in limbo about whether they can one day return home, she wants them to forget about their worries, even if its only for a short time. Translator i was feeling lonely, like a string that was suddenly cut off, but now that we can get together again, im so happy that my heart is beating like a drum. Translator i think talking with people is the best. Otherwise, i may get depressed and develop dementia. Ill join this Group Whenever there is an opportunity. Those smiles, they are my comfort. Its also for me, not only for them. Reporter marie louise says she knows the pain of being separated and the joy of reunion, so she wants to continue sharing that joy over a simple cup of coffee. Jun yotsumoto, nhk world, fukushima. Its time now for World Weather with our meteorologist, sacco mori. Midwinterlike cold weather is gripping the area. Whats the weather like for the rest of the week . Monday will be warm like sunday but cooling down. Temperatures will be like a roller coaster ride in tokyo this week. Yes, it was a cool day today, the daytime high was only 70 degrees. It was more like midwinter, but you know, its meteorological spring. It started on march 1st, but winter doesnt want to move away yet. Now, across the north, there is a low pressure system that is expected to move through the tohoku region. It is expected to bring blowing snow and also high waves to totohoku as well as parts of hokkaido for the next couple of days, and temperatures will be as follows for the next four days sapporo 3 for the high and snow will return on thursday. As for tokyo, 17 on tuesday. Thats ten degrees warmer compared to what we saw on monday, but cooling down once again. Only 11 degrees for the high on wednesday and rain is expected to continue, at least into thursday, and it looks like Rainy Weather is expected for places like osaka as well as fukuoka on wednesday. Meanwhile, we have a couple low pressure systems over northern china, and these systems expected to dump snowfall in gin lyng province and then potential frontal system can be found across southern places of china. It is expected to dump heavy rainfall in guanxi and then spre through Guangdong Province through wednesday. And these storm systems will affect parts of japan as we go into wednesday as well as thursday. And temperatures will be minus 13 in ulaanbaatar on thursday and then in the double digits for you in both beijing as well as seseoul. Meanwhile, in australia, we talklked about a cyclone named ester. The system made landfall in the northern territory. It dropped nearly 400 millimeters of rainfall. The system has become a low pressure system, but its still very significant, and surprisingly, it is expected to maintain its intensity and then will likely cut across the continent, across the southeast, so it looks like many areas will actually see some heavy rainfall, plus strong winds. We will see h heavy raiainfall places like sutni, too. Parts of california had itsts driest february y in recorded history. We have a low pressure system over southern places, so that is expected to bring some showers. Meanwhile, we will continue to see heavy rainfall acrososs the eastern United States and snowy weather across Eastern Canada and temperatures will be very warm in washington, d. C. Thats it for me. Have a nice day. And thats all for this edition of nhk newsline. Thanks for watching and do stay with us for more. The governor of the bank of japan is trying to calm investor worries amid the coronavirus outbreak. Haruhiko kuroda says the boj will provide ample funds to ststabilize the fininancial sec and carry out appropriate Market Operations and asset purchases. His statement came as shares in tokyo tumbled at the start of mondays morning session. The boj has since announced it will inject 500 billion yen or 406 billion into the market by purchasing governmnment bonds. The government also bought about 1 billion worth of exchangetraded funds in the stock market on monday. Thats the bojs biggest ever oneday purchase of etfs. This is newsline biz. Im gene otani. It was good news for some investors. The nikkei average started the day more than 1 lower, but it turned around after the boj governors unexpected statement. The nikkei 225 ended monday about 1 higher from fridays close. Thats the fifth gain after a fiveday losing streak that erased nearly 10 of the benchmarks value. Some other markets in the asiapacific region also bounced back, lending support to the nikkei 225. Share prices in shenzhen surged by 3. 8 and shanghai also rose by 3. 1 . The benchmark in sydney ended 0. 8 lower, marking seven Straight Days of losses. The coronavirus outbreak is also casting a deep shadow on Consumer Sentiment in japan. Sales at Major Department stores and auto dealerships both dropped sharply in february. Four out of five Major Department stores saw doubledigit declines. Sales at j. Front retailing which operates two chains were down 18 . Bothth hahankyu hannshin and is Mitsukoshi Holdings saw a klein of 15 . They say it wont improve unless concerns about the outbreak are eased. Major outlets plan to close on selected days or shorten Business Hours to prevent the virus from spreading further. Auto Industry Groups say domestic new vehicle sales last month were down 10. 2 from a year earlier. Thats the fifth straight monthly decline since october, when the consumption tax went up from 8 to 10 . Major automakers have beenn releasing popular models since midfebruary, but industry Officials Say fewer customers are visiting dealerships due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. Investment by japanese firms to upgrade their Production Equipment fell late last year. It was the first drop in more than three years. Thats before the coronavirus outbreak. Government officials think the decline is due to the slower Global Economy. The finance Ministry SaysCorporate Capital investment in the octobertodecember period was down 3. 5 from a year earlier in yen terms. It totaled about 107 billion. Investment by manufacturers dropped 9 . Spending went on manufacturers were down 0. 1 . Finance ministry Officials Say companies are investing less on equipment used in making semiconductors and auto parts as the Global Economy slows. The survey also shows Corporate Sales fell 6. 4 . Pretax profits dropped 4. 6 . Salted duck eggs have long been a staple in chinese cuisine. Now their unique flavor is proving a hit in other parts of the world. We take a analytic at how this distinctive food is winning new fans in Southeast Asia. Reporter the shop in Central Singapore is attracting crowds of customers. Bags of potato chips and fish skins seasoned with salted duck egg sell for a steep 12 u. S. , but people come to stock up, even from overseas. Very addictive. Yeah, very famous also. We have like a separate bag just for this. Reporter people are going crazy for the seasoning. Its rich, salty, and boasts a lingering sweetness. The snacks weree the brainchild of irv gunowan, an indonesian living in singapore. He used to have a restaurant where his eggs were a big hit. A few years later, he is doing business in six countries and has over 300 employees. Thehe vision of our company to bring the asian food globally. One day we are able to reach the whole global market. Reporter salted duck eggs have long been used as a preserved food and seasoning in chinese cuisine. The recent popularity in Southeast Asia means factories like this one in thailand are rushing to meet demand. Duck eggs are soaked in brine for three weeks. Then the yolks are dried. Mixing salted eggs with oil produces a grea