This year’s Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology annual congress (APLAR 2020) that was scheduled to take place in Kyoto, Japan in August has been postponed until November due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

APLAR says the meeting will be rescheduled from its original 31 August start date to a new one of 14 November, to be held at the same venue in Kyoto.

“The health and safety of our attendees, partners and communities are of utmost importance, and it is APLAR’s view that a postponement is the best option for the APLAR Congress,” it said.

“Having extensively consulted with APLAR and JCR [Japan College of Rheumatology] stakeholders and partners in advance of making this decision, and with hundreds of early abstracts already submitted, we are confident that the new dates for the APLAR Congress 2020 will provide the foundations required for another successful congress.”

All existing registrations will automatically be transferred to the new November dates, according to APLAR.

Last year’s APLAR Congress was held in Brisbane in conjunction with the Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA)

APLAR was established in 1963 in Sydney and now covers 32 national rheumatology associations representing more than 25,000 rheumatologists in the Asia Pacific region.