Reuters on March 28 reported that radioactive substance believed to have leaked from the power plant was detected in the air over North Carolina and South Carolina and Florida States of the U.S.

Earlier, it was confirmed that such substance was detected in Hawaii, California, Nevada and Massachusetts and other states.

Trace amounts of radioactive substance were detected in the air over Vietnam and it was also found in Glasgow City of Scotland.

The radioactive iodine detected in an area of south Korea spread to all its areas as of Wednesday, stoking uneasiness among inhabitants, according to south Korean KBS.

In the afternoon of Tuesday radioactive substance 3 355 times the legal limit was detected in the seawater near the power plant. This was the highest-ever.

That day Prime Minister Naoto Kan, addressing a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councilors, expressed his view that there was high likelihood of closing the power plant.

In the meantime, the Japan National Police Agency announced that the death toll caused by the quake and the ensuing tsunami increased to 11,257 and the number of those unaccounted for to 16 344 as of 3 p.m. of Wednesday.

Aftershocks are going on.

On Wednesday quake of magnitude 5.3 jolted Chiba Prefecture and areas around it.

The epicenter was some 20 km under water in the sea off the prefecture.