More details on Nishikido and Yamapi's conditions

Nishikido Ryou and Yamashita Tomohisa have been isolated at home following the confirmation that they have contracted H1N1 (Type A Influenza). In response to this sudden development, many people are now in a frenzy trying to contain the infection as the duo had been in contact with many people especially during the weekend when they took part in NTV's "24 Jikan Terebi" charity show.

Nishikido was the first to show signs of H1N1. In the morning of 30 Aug, he was already feeling feverish when he appeared at NTV's "24 Jikan Terebi" with his fellow members from NEWS. Upon checking his temperature, it was 38 degrees so he headed to the hospital for the H1N1 test which turned out to be negative. On that day, he went back to work after being put on the drip. Things took a sudden turn the next day when Nishikido turned up at the Midoriyama Studio to take part in the filming of "Orthros no Inu". He complained of feeling chilly and tested his temperature again. As he had a high temperature of 39 degrees, his manager drove him to a hospital and did the H1N1 test again. This time round, he was tested positive. As Nishikido went straight to his resting room when he reached the studio that day, he did not come into contact with any of the staff or cast members. To prevent the spread of the infection, Nishikido's manager is also isolated at home for the time being while TBS steps up its precautionary measures by providing handwash and reminding the crew to be more alert to their own health conditions.

On the other hand, Yamashita was still fine on 31 August when he turned up for filming of "Buzzer Beat". Suddenly, he started to feel feverish on 1 Sep and found that he had a high temperature of 38.2 degrees. He was then tested positive for H1N1 at the hospital. FujiTV announced that they cancelled the filming on 2 Sep and will adjust the other cast members' schedules before resuming the filming.

As both of them hold significant roles in their dramas and it is unknown how long they would take to recover, NTV and FujiTV are looking into delaying the OA of the dramas since they had not finished filming the parts for both of them in the next episodes.

NEWS was involved in the "24 Jikan Terebi" event at Tokyo Big Site where about 5000 people gathered. A lot of them were fans of NEWS and spent up to 8 hours at the place. Even though this was an outdoor venue, there is worry that the infection may have spread due to the large number of people gathered due to the weekend.

At the moment, Johnny's Jimusho has made all of its artistes wear masks and are closely monitoring whether anyone else is showing signs of influenza. The other members of NEWS are said to be fine at the moment.