COVID-19 developments, reports top AJA virtual meeting

AJA meeting in process (Picture by Sang-ki Lee)

SEOUL: The latest COVID-19 national developments and vaccination drives topped the agenda of the Asia Journalists Association (AJA) meeting.

Held virtually, the meeting brought together members from Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Germany and Bahrain.

The Korean team was reinforced by Dahye Min, Asia N Reporter, whose latest contribution to the Asia N site focused on how Korean Buddhism played a key role in Moon-Biden summit.

Members highlighted the latest coronavirus waves and their repercussions as well as the inoculation schemes in their countries.

News that Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant with UK, Indian mutations sounded the alarm that more demanding challenges lie ahead for Asian countries as they struggle to confront and overcome the virus.

On Saturday, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health said it detected a coronavirus hybrid variant with characteristics from the existing Indian and U.K. variants.

National reports on confronting COVID-19 were reviewed at the meeting held across seven time zones (Picture by Ashraf Aboul-Yazid)

The meeting also touched on the AJA drive to highlight the fight against climate change, a global topic that AJA members covered extensively during speeches and presentations at the World Journalists Conference 2021.

The role of journalists in the fight against global change was one of the two themes taken up by the annual conference organized by the Journalists Association of Korea (JAK) attended by media figures from 50 countries.

Acting on the views and recommendations made at the conference, AJA has decided to take practical steps to build on the “global moment”, to get more journalists and people behind the mission and raise international awareness.

AJA with its active members, dedicated commitment and pluralistic composition is considered an ideal platform to carry on the message for the fight against climate change. Ivan Lim, Ashraf Aboul-Yazid and Hassan Humeida are heading the drive within AjA.

AJA has been holding virtual meetings since July 9, 2020, in a move that demonstrated its capability to overcome challenges posed by COVID-19 and to leverage technology to adapt to new situations.