Tokyo governor ckoike. A new task force has been if t they find there is a serio threat to Public Health or the economy they can declare emergencies for designated areas and times. If that happens, governors will be able to urge schools to close and limit the use of commercial facilities such as Department Stores and movie theaters. Residenc resident residents could also be askskedo stay at home. Still. The governor says now is not the time to declare a statement of emergency. Japan has more than 1400 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. That number does not include more than 700 cases from the diamond princess cruise ship. 59 people have died, including ten from the cruise ship. More than 900 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals. Meanwhile, the tokyo metropolitan government says it may be on the verge of a surge of outbreak. S. Translator the capital is now at a critical overshoot phase where there may be a major spike. Each tokyo resident needs to be aware of the crisis and do what they can to avoid spreading it. This is our last chance to flatten the curve of infections. Koike expressed her concerns at the groups first meeting. Tokyo saw at least 40 cases friday. Ininfections nearly doubled on wednesdayy and hit an alltime high of 47 on thuhursday. Tokyo residents are asked too avoid going out this weekend and urged the young to be cautious about transmissions. Many young people reportedly show few symptoms during the period in which they are contagious. And governor koikes urge to stay in has kept people scrambling, but they are urging people to stay calm, that there is enough food for everyone. Nhk reports. Reporter as you can see, there are large crowds of people hoping to stock up on essentials to prepare for the weekend. It didnt take long for this super market to be flooded with wa wary customers. Shortly after it o opened, long lines formed i in front of cash registers and shelf stable vegetables were some of the first to g the level of customers is one and a half times more than usual and theyre spending about one and a half times more, too. Translator even if we are told we dont need to panic, when you see nothing on the store shelves, i become worried. Translator i feel the kind of calm. I visited all the super markets in the neighborhood and there were no eggs at all. I was finally able to buy two cartons of eggs here. Reporter this woman expressed her anxiety for what the future might hold. Translator i see coverage of europe and the cities are empty. I feel a sense of crisis growing here. This time is a little different than usual. Reporter the shopkeeper of this super market says he hasnt seen crowds like this since the great east japan earthquake in 2011, but at the same time, he stressed there is no need to hoard supplies. Translator there will be no problem if people do their ordinary shopping without pan eck. My store is open this saturday and sunday as usual. Reporter Food Industry groups are asked to let people know the food supply system is stable and sufficient. With tokyo facing a critical juncture, how people respond this weekend to the authorities request will test of just how ss residents are taking the coronavirus. Nhk world, tokyo. The president of the International Olympic committee has reportedly suggested that he will set the new dates for the postponed games in three weeks. Thomas bach made the remark in a closed teleconference with edge sports organizations. They reportedly discussed changing the initial schedule so the games would avoid tokyos intense summer heat and typhoon season. There are numerous issues that must be resolved, including how to secure venues and personnel and what to do about tickets that have already been sold. The ioc and japanese government have agreed to postpone the games to the summer of 2021 at the latest. Leader of the u. S. And c cha discussed the virus. Donald trump described his conversation with xi jinping as very good and says the two countries are working closely, adding that china has a strong understanding of the virus. The championship eainese minist tone. Xi also reportedly said ohe hops the u. S. Will take concrete steps to improve bilateral relations. Trump made headlines when he labeled the virus the chinese virus. A Chinese ForeignMinistry Spokesperson had suggested the u. S. Military might have brought it to the chinese city of wuhan. With the number of confirmed cases, severe restrictions have been incurred on peoples lives to curb the sprpread of the pandemic. Residents in the u. S. State of new york have been ordered to stay home and refrain from all nonessesential travel since sunday. Theyre banned from going to work except for jobs in essential services such as police, medical care and super markets. Theaters and restaurants are closed and restaurants are only allowed to serve takeout orders. The number of cases stands at around 68,000. John hopkins estimates 85,000 people in the u. S. Have been infected, surpassing china. Authorities are restricting people in france from going out. People can only venture out to buy daily necessities or do work that cant be done at home. When they do go out they must carry documents giving the reason for their trip. Those who braeak the rules can face fines of up to 1600. Fines in britain are about 70. Shops that remain open are limiting the number of customers who can enter at any one time. People lining up outside must stay two meters apart. South koreas had the second highest number. One reason for the spread is religious groups. Kim chan ju has the story. Reporter people are condemning a religious sect known at church of jesus. Out of the infections of south korea, nearly 60 are linked to the cult. January 20 was the first infection. The number of cases rose and shot up drastically after the 31st case. That was a cult member. This woman used to be a senior official of the cult. She says its unique method of praying is largely to blame for the mass infection. Translator believers get down on their hands and knees at the start of the prayer. Many people are squeezed into a small place, so its very close. They continue too loudldly call amen. They also sing hymns while clapping their hands. They are sure t to bee exposed droplets off saliva from those sitting next to them. Reporter the christian cult was founded in 1984. It h has 210,000 memberers in t country and d 30,000 moree abro. Believers compepete to recruit w members in order to earn a place in heaven. Members c called special missionaries are sent to orthodox churches. Translator they serve the Target Church and behave like model worshippers. But when they gain the trust of others they look for people unhappy with the church. Many young people are worried about getting a job or being accepted at university. Y. Missionaries tell them they can succeed without studying. Reporter on march 2nd, the lead ev leader apologized. But he previously said the outbreak was the work of the devil, who is t trying to disru his church. Shockwaves are spreading throughout the religious world. This Protestant Church has been conducting services online. Translator people often join large churches for impure motives. So we put everyone who hopes to become a member in one on one bible s study sessions. We monitor them for about eight weeks and decide on whether to accept them only after we conclude that they are not heretical. Reporter one expert says it is difficult to grasp the entire picture of religious groups that operate in secrecy. Translator one month has passed since the mass infection, but authorities have yet to complete will investigation nooinvestigations into all members. The doctrine has kept them from revealing their identities. Reporter last week, another cluster of more than 70 infections emerged in a different group. As South Koreans continue their battle against the virus, theyre also facing a new threat posed by the irresponsible practices of some religious groups. Kim chan ju, nhk world. Chan ju, thanks. Turning to south africa where the nation has imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the outbreak. The measures went into effect on friday. Everyone except medical and security personnel are required to stay at home for three weeks. All flights have also been suspended, making it impossible for people to leave the country. On thursday, south africa said there were more than 900 infections. The country reported its first case on march 5th. Analysts warn the countrys Health Care System may be particularly vulnerable to the virus, as medical standards at hospitals are low except at facilities for the wealthy. Its not easy for us to accessss information, recent information about the virus. There are also concerns about the 20 of adults infected with hiv as it significantly weakens a persons yes, maimmune syste more than half a Million People have signed a petition calling for the resignation of the leader of the world health organization. They say owe he is unfit as the director jem director general. It reads we believe w. H. O. Is supposed to be politically neutral and that the head had accepted the death and infection numbers provided by china without any investigation. The w. H. O. Chief has not yet commented on the petition. Japans deputy Prime Minister taro aso says it reflects growing frustration. Translator it should be changed to the Chinese Health organization, this is the start. Aso says many people would have taken preventive measures earlier if they had known how serious the coronavirus was. We had a warm but blustery day in tokyo. Temperatures will be dropping. W we are talking about a big chill coming up as we go into the latter part of the weekend. And we will be dealing with some of this wet weather, but also potentially some flurries and some snow depending on where you are on the eastern side of japan because of the combination of the moisture and also the cold air. Were looking at the satellite perspective. Some areas back to the west receiving 150 millimeters of rainfall over the past 24 hours and well see it continue to move to the east. The reason we have so much moisture with this particular setup is as the spring time pattern begins to take hold, we have warmer air coming from the south. And as the atmosphere air warms up it also carries a little bit more moisture with it. Its just the potential amount gets impacted by the cold air that comes in from the north. When those two come together a lot more rain gets squeezed out. And some areas toward the centr japan could see 80 millimeters of rainfall. As the front moves to the south and east well have cold air coming in behind it, and that combination can lead to the possibility of snow. Notice the drop in the daytime high from 20 to just 9 degrees on sunday. In tokyo, its a tendegree drop. Were expecting the temperatures to be dropping for part of the day during the daytime hours. That can literally squeeze out some flakes in the process as well. Were also talking about a cool down in foukuoka by monday. Keep the jackets nearby. Youre going to need them. Because its going to get a lot colder over the next couple days. Plenty of rain in chihina. The extension of the front. Its going to be slowly pushing to the east, wet weather for saturday. Shanghai, a high of 20. Cold air impacting areas back to the west as we go throughgh saturday. Meanwhile, across europe, after seeing a High Pressure system, we have a low thats been spinning around in the southern portions of the continent. And thats going to be the main weather story as we go throughout the day on friday. Areas to the north still dealing with some of that slightly windier pattern, but its more into the Scandinavian Peninsula where youre dealing with the active pattern, looking at a high of 8 on saturday in stockholm. Hope you have a good day wherever you are. Walking us through the la latest in business and Financial News is Ramin Mellegard whos up next. Super markets in tokyo are scram bei scrambling to keep their shelves stocked after the governor of tokyo urged people to stay in this weekend. Instant noodles, pasta and other items were higigh in demand. They are working hard to keep the shelves from emptying out. The Farm Ministry says theres no need for hoarding, noting that japan has enough rice to meet domestic demand for dsix months. Some of the major theme parks in japan have been closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Now theyre plannnning to exten the shutdowowns for even longer. Tokyo disney land and tokyo disney sea will keep their doors closed beyond a planned reopening in early april. The operator, oriental land says people wont be able to enjoy the parks again until april 20th at the earliest. Meanwhile, japanese auto makers are extending the closure of their plants in north america. Officials at toyota and honda say theyre extending factory shutdowns. Toyota will keep all of its plants closed in the United States, canada, and mexico, at least until april 17th. Factories in those countries have been closed since monday. They were originally scheduled to resume on april 6. They are looking at a resumption at the u. S. Facilities on april 8th. The decision will be based on employees welfare and the decline in new car sales. The pandemic is wreaking havoc on the auto industry. Japanese banks are asked to set a new credit line of 9 billion. The banks are sumitomo and mufg babank. Toyota h has abobo billion deposits, securities and other funds. The new credit line will let the car maker obtain a loan whenever needed. It will temporarily shut down some production lines in japan starting friday next week. The company is preparing for the polgt possibility of a prolonged pandemic that drags down demand even further. And the soaring number of coronavirus cases in the u. S. Has led to a severe shortage of ventilators for critically ill maish patients. Some of the countrys auto makers are pitching in. Ford will use the production line to make ventilatotor and a producing plastic fullface shields for health care workers. Gm will send its engineers to lend a hand. Tesla cro Tesla Ceo Elon musk says he will reopen their fact any new york to make ventilators. In britain, the Manufacturing Sector is asked to help prepare for a possible spike. Dyson has reportedly responded to the call by pledging to produce 10,000 ventilators. Major Japanese Trading Firm mitsui and company is expecting a loss of 500 million to 700 million. They believe demand for oil will drop as the pandemic slams the economy. Theyrexpxpecti losses in oil and g Gas Development p project thee u. S. And itataly due to a sharp drop in crude o oil price. Additional losses could be generated from falling shares. It forecasted a profit of 4. 1 billion for the Business Year initially. And another could have a loss of 7 billion for the Business Year. People around the world are canceling travel plans and hunkering down at home to avoid getting the coronavirus. And thats deal aing a crushing blow to many businesses, especially to those in the world of hospitality. Reporter this hotel in Niigata Prefecture is one business in japan that has been hit hard from the fallout of t e coronavirus pandemic. Translator yes, i will cancel your reservation. Translator we were expecting to bring in about 180,000 this season. But because of the coronavirus, well be lucky to m make half that. Reporter its unbelievable. Were taking a big hit. The hotel was already having a bad season before the outbreak hit. There hadnt been much snow. As of january nearly 400 skiers and snowboarders had canceled their reservations. So the hotel started to promote its Banquet Services which would have brought in more than 60 guests. But in late fefebruary, Prime Minister shinzo abe urged people not to hold large events. Translator please take measures to cancel,l, postpone reduce the size of all public gatherings. Reporter and the capsulatio capsulations cancellations started to pour in again. An emergency meeting was held to discuss what the hotel should do. Translator i think its important to show on the website how weve been sterilizing guest rorooms. Translator all we can do is guarantee to our guests that its safe to stay here. Reporter but these steps had little effect, including booking to the end of march, they had lost more than 2,000 guests this season. Management took the painful decision to close for 11 weekdays, asking employees to take time off work and rotation. Translator were in a real crisis. We have to reapmind ourselves n to get discouraged and keep our spirits up even though its a tough situation. Reporter revenue is drying up, and the problem is serious enough for the hotel to consider taking out a bank loan to pay salari and bills. Many businesses like this are realizing the virus is not just a threat to health but also poses a a danger to their very livelihoods. Okay. Lets get a check on the markets. And thats it for newsline biz from our tokyo studios. Iim Ramin Mellegard. The e United States surpasses china as the country with the most coronavirus cases in the world. The chinese premier calls for a unified response between the two nations. France withhours in 300 65 deaths linked to covid19