at 20:00 (JST), February 06

Japanese health officials say ten more people on a cruise ship docked at Yokohama, tested positive for a new coronavirus on Thursday.

Chinese health officials said death toll from the coronavirus epidemic now stand at 563 in mainland China, while more than 28,000 are now infected.

Kayoko Arimoto, the mother of one of the Japanese abducted by North Korea, died on Monday at the age of 94.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20200206200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : Japanese health ten more people from Canada
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_32/

Japanese health officials say ten more people on a cruise ship docked at Yokohama, near Tokyo, tested positive for the new coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases on the vessel to 20.

Some 3,700 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess were quarantined after a man from Hong Kong was found to have been infected, shortly after he disembarked in his home city.

Health officials have been testing samples from 120 people who developed symptoms such as fever and coughing, and 153 others who had close contact with those showing symptoms.

The ten newly confirmed patients are all passengers in their 50s to 70s.

Four of them are Japanese, two are from the US, and two are from Canada. One passenger is from New Zealand and another one is from Taiwan.

The officials say all of them have symptoms including fever.
Authorities are preparing to transfer them to 5 medical institutions in Kanagawa Prefecture.

The other passengers and crew members are being asked to remain on the ship for at least two weeks while health checks are carried out.

Japan's health ministry says that there has not been an outbreak in the country for the time being and urges people to prevent the infection by washing hands and wearing masks just as with other infections such as flu.

Key words : defense ministry dispatch
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_38/

Japan's Defense Ministry plans to send Self-Defense Force personnel to a cruise ship quarantined at Yokohama Port to assist passengers.

The decision was made on Thursday after the number of confirmed infections of the new coronavirus on the Diamond Princess reached 20. About 3,700 people have been asked to stay on the ship for 14 days.

The ministry plans to deploy 40 SDF personnel to the ship to help deliver meals to passengers, and transport needed supplies to the ship.

It also plans to dispatch two SDF medical officers to the ship on Thursday to help monitor the health of the passengers and crew. The number of officers is to eventually be increased to five.

A ferry is to be docked at Yokohama Port to be used as a base for the operation.

The Diamond Princess has been quarantined since Monday, following a report that one of its passengers was found infected with the virus after he disembarked at his home city of Hong Kong on February 1.

Key words : task force
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_48/

The organizing committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games has launched a task force to respond to the spread of the new coronavirus.

NHK has learned that the task force was set up by Thursday and is headed by the committee's director general Toshiro Muto.

Its members are expected to discuss preventive measures with relevant organizations to ensure the safety of spectators and others.

They plan to implement such measures for torch relays that start in March, test events and the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.

In China, the outbreak has led to postponing of international events in sports including soccer, table tennis and para-athletics.

Key words : death toll 563
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_31/

Chinese health officials have put the latest death toll from the coronavirus epidemic at 563 people in mainland China, while more than 28,000 are now infected.

China's National Health Commission says 3,694 new cases were confirmed on Wednesday, bringing the total number of patients to 28,018.

The number of new cases have topped 3,000 for three consecutive days, with roughly 80 percent of them in Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak. The number of patients in serious condition have increased by 640 to 3,859 people.

It also says 70 new deaths were reported in Hubei Province. Heilongjiang Province, Guizhou Province and the city of Tianjin reported one death each.

In Wuhan, the Huoshenshan Hospital which was quickly constructed to treat coronavirus patients, opened earlier this week, and can accommodate 1,000.
Another hospital, the Leishenshan, is expected to open on Thursday, and can accommodate 1600.

But there is still a shortage of medical staff and facilities in Wuhan. In a news conference on Wednesday night, the city's senior official admitted mistakes in handling the outbreak. He said people are unable to receive treatment due to a shortage of hospital beds.

Key words : 254 people
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_18/

Cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed in 27 countries and territories outside mainland China with 254 people infected.

They include 45 in Japan, 28 in Singapore, 25 in Thailand, 23 in South Korea, 21 in Hong Kong, 14 in Australia, 12 in both Germany and Malaysia, and 11 in both the United States and Taiwan.

Ten cases each have been confirmed in Macao and Vietnam. There are six in France, five in the United Arab Emirates, and three in both India and the Philippines.

Canada, Italy, Britain and Russia have confirmed two cases each.

Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden, Spain and Belgium have confirmed one case each.

One person has died in the Philippines, and one has died in Hong Kong.

Key words : senior chinese admitted
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_24/

A senior Chinese Communist Party official in Wuhan has admitted that the city authorities have made mistakes in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

The deputy secretary of the party's committee in Wuhan, Hu Lishan, revealed at a news conference on Wednesday that only 421 beds in 28 hospitals were available as of Tuesday. He admitted that many people who have tested positive or are suspected of having the virus are unable to receive proper treatment due to the shortage of hospital beds.

Hu also noted that the committee is extremely worried about the situation, and he understands that people are angry because it has not been doing its job properly.

More than 3,000 new cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in Hubei Province on Tuesday.

Key words : Arimoto age of 94
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_34/

Kayoko Arimoto, the mother of one of the Japanese abducted by North Korea, died on Monday at the age of 94. She had campaigned for more than 30 years to be reunited with her daughter.

Arimoto was the oldest family member of an abductee on the Japanese government's list.

Her daughter, Keiko, was 23 when she was abducted in 1983 while traveling in Europe after completing her studies in London. In 1988, Arimoto and her husband, Akihiro, learned that their daughter was in North Korea.

NHK interviewed Arimoto at her home last September. She urged the government to resolve the abduction issue as quickly as possible, and said the return of her daughter was her only remaining wish.

Arimoto was the seventh parent of an officially recognized abductee to die without a reunion since 2002. In the Japan-North Korea summit of that year, Pyongyang admitted that it had abducted Japanese nationals.

Key words : prime regrettable
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_39/

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says it is truly regrettable that Japan was unable to repatriate abductee Keiko Arimoto from North Korea before her mother died.

Abe was speaking to reporters on Thursday about the death of 94-year-old Kayoko Arimoto earlier this week.

Abe said he is praying for the repose of Arimoto, and he phoned her husband on Wednesday to offer his condolences. He said he had worked with the Arimotos for the return of their daughter from North Korea since he served as a secretary to his father, the late former Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe.

The prime minister expressed his regret for failing to reunite Arimoto with her abducted daughter.
Abe also said that regrettably, not a single abductee has come back to Japan since 2002, when then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Pyongyang led to the return of five abducted Japanese.

Abe stressed his determination not to miss any opportunity to resolve the abduction issue. He also reaffirmed his willingness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions.

Key words : China cut US product
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_43/

China says it will cut tariffs on some US products by half from Friday next week. Beijing imposed the additional duties of up to 10 percent last September, affecting over 75-billion-dollars' worth of American imports.

The announcement comes three weeks after the two countries signed a "phase one" trade deal.

Washington said last month it would reduce by half the additional 15-percent levies imposed in September on 120-billion dollars of Chinese imports. Those cuts are also scheduled to start to take effect from February 14th.

However, most of the tariffs the countries have slapped on each other's goods during their two-year-old trade dispute are still in place.

The world's two largest economies remain apart on a number of issues. They include a US demand that Beijing review its preferential treatment of state-owned companies.

Key words : share price surged
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_41/

Share prices in Tokyo surged on Thursday. News about a possible cure for the coronavirus and China's announcement on tariff cuts pushed prices higher.

Tokyo's Nikkei Average finished at 23,873, up 2.4 percent, from the previous day's close. Investors bought shares across the board.

Analysts say worries about the global economic outlook eased after reports of progress in developing a medicine to treat the coronavirus.

The mood was also lifted by Beijing's announcement it would cut additional tariffs on US goods from Friday next week.

The Japanese yen weakened against the dollar, trading around the 110-yen level.
The Japanese currency had been bought as a haven asset but was sold after the concerns over the global economic outlook eased.

Key words : US federal reserve
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_28/

The US Federal Reserve says it is studying the feasibility of issuing a digital currency, including its associated costs and benefits.

Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a speech Wednesday that, "Given the dollar's importance, it is essential we remain on the frontier of research and policy development."

Brainard indicated the Fed will work with other central banks.

It reportedly made the decision after an announcement by some of its peers, including those in Japan and the European Union, that they will launch joint research on digital currency.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month the US does not need to issue such money in the next five years. He made the remark in response to reports that China was moving ahead on plans to put out a digital yuan.

In the private sector, US social media giant Facebook is planning to come out with its own currency, "Libra."

Key words : bulgaria
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_42/

Leaders in Bulgaria are calling on Japanese firms to invest in their expanding technology sector.

President Rumen Radev and some of his ministers met on Wednesday with officials from Japanese companies that have operations in the East European country.

Radev said his country's tech sector is growing fast and represents a good investment opportunity for foreign companies.

He said: "Japanese investment contributes to the developing of high technology in Bulgaria, and high added value industry. And they bring here a new progressive model of successful business."

Bulgarian leaders are putting more resources into teaching information technology, a move that is attracting businesses from the Western countries as well as individual investors.

Key words : food industry
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_27/

Food-industry officials from Japan have been pitching their products in India. They hope to tap into a growing interest in Japanese food in one of the world's largest consumer markets.

Around 270 people attended a promotional event on Wednesday hosted by the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi. The guests included importers and people from hotels.

They sampled sushi and sashimi. They also had the chance to taste a Japanese version of India's most famous food item, curry.

A restaurant chain plans to open its first outlet in India this year specializing in the dish.

A trading house from Aomori Prefecture served apples. Its exports to India began last month on a trial basis.

Company officials say many of the guests praised the fruit. The firm is hoping to expand its apple business in the Indian market, whose population is 1.3 billion.

The Japan External Trade Organization says India has about 100 Japanese restaurants.

Key words : organizer unveil
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200206_36/

Organizers of the Tokyo Paralympic Games have unveiled the details of the flame-lighting events to be held across Japan.

While the Olympic flame is lit in Greece, the lighting of the Paralympic flame will take place in more than 700 municipalities in all of Japan's 47 prefectures.

The Paralympic organizing committee on Thursday announced the details of the various ceremonies that reflect regional characteristics.

In Hiroshima, the flame will be ignited from the Flame of Peace in Peace Memorial Park. The city was hit by an atomic bomb in 1945.

In the city of Kobe, a memorial flame to remember the deadly earthquake in 1995, will be used.

A flame lit in memory of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami will also be used in the ceremony in Rikuzentakata, one of the cities hardest hit by the disasters.

In Gifu city, the flame-lighting will feature a torch used in the region's traditional cormorant fishing in Nagara River.

In Kakuda city, embers from an ignition experiment conducted at a space center belonging to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, will be used.

The flame-lighting events will be held from August 13.
Torch relays will be held from August 18 in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Chiba and Saitama, the four prefectures hosting Paralympic events.

The flames from across the country will be brought together in a ceremony on August 21 for another torch relay in Tokyo, before being used to light the cauldron in the opening ceremony on August 25.