COVID-19 Pandemic in Southeast Asia (updated daily)
Q&A: Seafarers Cross Off Days Till They Go Home
Working at sea is challenging enough. But the pandemic has been a particularly lonely test of mental and emotional resilience for seafarers, due to the nature of their jobs, Helen Sampson, director of Cardiff University’s Seafarers International Research Centre, tells Reporting ASEAN.
Filipino Seafarers Find Their Future, and Lives, Adrift
Seafarers make up bulk of Filipino workers returning home without jobs amid COVID-19. But home isn’t the best the place to be – many face stigma, and the Philippine economy is in dire straits. Filipinos make up a third of cruise ship staff worldwide. By the Reporting ASEAN team.
COVID-19: No Words Needed
This set of posters, contributed by Vientiane-based artist Khamhou Phanludeth, brings home the message that in times of chaos, it is human connection that makes all the difference.
COVID-19: Life in Self-Quarantine – A Snapshot
The Covid-19 outbreak appears to have passed its peak in China, more than two months after it took over global headlines. However, life remains far from normal in the Chinese capital Beijing, as Shin Lin of Reporting ASEAN tells us in these thoughts scribbled during her time in self-quarantine.
COVID-19: Tracking Testing in Southeast Asia
The issue of COVID-19 testing seems to be on everyone’s radar. This set of charts tracks two types of statistics that tell a much more contextualised story – the total number of tests done as reported by the governments of 11 Southeast Asian countries, as well the number of tests in proportion to their population sizes. Updated every week. Data visualisation by Yvonne T Chua.
COVID-19: Still Staying Home, But More Are Moving About
Check out these eight charts that track the changes in people’s movements in nine Southeast Asian countries amid tCOVID-19. These changes are seen in travel to work, retail and recreation through March and April. while travel to/around residences shot up. As lockdowns ease, more movements in recent weeks are showing up in the data from Google and Apple. Data visualisation by Yvonne T Chua.
COVID-19: For Vietnam, Information Is A Public-Health Weapon
Vietnam pulled out all the stops in its campaign on COVID-19, wading into the digital venues where citizens, especially millennials, could be reached. Just about everywhere Vietnamese looked, they read, heard, saw material about the pandemic – in TikTok, Zalo, Facebook, mobile phone/voice messages, and catchy hashtags like #stayinghomeisfun. Uyen Diep and Ha Dang report.
SOUTHEAST ASIA: News Interest High, Trust In Media Low
Can Southeast Asians trust less and less the news, as they consume more of such news, mainly in online venues? Can they turn to social media to access news, but distrust social media at the same time? These appear to be case, writes Reporting ASEAN’s Johanna Son in this story on the ‘2020 Digital News Report’ that was released in June 2020.
COVID-19 Disrupts the Philippines’ Migration Story
The Philippines, the world’s top exporter of labour, is seeing group after group of overseas workers return after losing their jobs in the wake of the economic shock dealt by the COVID-19 crisis. The country has never seen anything like this in its 50 years of experience in labour exports. How will the pandemic change migration? Johanna Son of Reporting ASEAN reports in this Q&A chat.
COVID-19: Tips for A Saner Digital Diet in These Viral Times
Infodemic. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, online spaces in Southeast Asia have become a petri dish of deafening ‘noise’ and filth on steroids, into which fear-based behaviour sinks comfortably. But in the end, using online spaces involves personal responsibility, and cannot be passed on to Big Tech. Reporting ASEAN’s Johanna Son shares tips for picking one’s way online in the time of COVID-19.
