[ COVID-19 ] A single photograph, candid and un-staged, that reflects the news or human experience of the impact of COVID-19. The image must be documentary and may be related to news, sports, daily life or lifestyle. Each participant is allowed to enter up to 10 images. The images must be taken in 2019 or 2020.
Judges for COVID-19
Quick links to award categories: COVID-19 / Spot News / Portraits / Nature & Environment / Covid Picture Story / Covid Expressions / Issue Reporting Picture Story / Cultural Practices / Photographer of the Year, Asia
Indonesia, 18 April 2020: The body of a suspected coronavirus victim, wrapped in yellow infectious waste plastic bags and wrappers, lies on the patient's deathbed awaiting a body bag in a hospital in Indonesia. The wrapping of the patient, which takes two nurses a full hour to complete through three layers of plastic and nine times of disinfection, is intended to suppress the spread of coronavirus. As mandated by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, the wrapping of the body is a standard procedure for every suspected, comorbid, and positive confirmed COVID-19 death. This process continues until today. After the image was published by National Geographic, the image sparked denial and strong reaction across social media. Many who saw the image declared it to be a setup intended to spread fear. By the end of the year, Indonesia had reported around 743,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 22,000 deaths.
On the afternoon of March 11, a parent and child were playing table tennis on the roof of a building of Wuyang new town in Guangzhou, while an aunt was playing basketball on the opposite roof. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in January 2020, Chinese citizens followed the government's advice，stayed at home and reduced the chance of cross infection. As a result, the rooftop of residential buildings, which used to be used only for drying clothes and quilts, had become the best exercise ground for the elderly and children.
A Thai elementary school student wears a face mask and sits at a desk with a social distancing screen during class at the Wat Khlong Toey School on July 2, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. In the beginning of July The Wat Khlong Toey School reopened its doors to its approximately 250 students following the relaxation of lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the school was forced to shutter its doors in mid March due to Thailand’s emergency decree and lockdown, the administration and teachers prepared measures to ensure a safe reopening including installing sinks and soap dispensers outside of each classroom, creating social distancing screens in classrooms and lunch areas and installing hand sanitizer and temperature scanners at the entry.
Mohammad Baqer Sadeghian is in charge of the clerics of Vadi-Rahmat Cemetery, at the end of the day, he checks the signs and addresses of the graves so that no mistakes are made, and recites the Qur’an and prayers at the graves of the victims ordered by their relatives. He said: “These victims are really oppressed, they go to the hospital on their own and never return, even in the funeral rites of these victims, sometimes none of their relatives are present or they are very limited.”
On the first day of Spring (Nawroz), unable to go out because of the quarantine order, a family passes the time relaxing on the rooftop as tea boils in the kettle. In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the government of Iraqi Kurdistan put in place quarantine orders beginning March 15st, 2020. While steaming the tide of infections, the social and economic impacts of the quarantine play out in the daily lives of the Kurdish people in different ways.
