>> tonight, for the first time in almost 20 years, there's a new drug just approved to treat people in the early phases of alzheimer's disease. >> reporter: in june, the food and drug administration green lit the first new drug approved to treat alzheimer's disease since 2003. now, according to the fda, the drug can reduce alzheimer's signature tangles and plaques of attorney proteins that block the neural pathways. but the approval was controversial, which many researchers, including the fda's own advisory committee, saying the evidence wasn't there to show it slows down cognitive decline. there's a growing concern about a surge of covid-19 cases in tokyo. >> instead of a metal count, we're tracking the covid count. >> it had been postponed the previous year, but this sumer,