Coronavirus could kill more through hunger than disease itself

Daily Mail, 9 July, 2020-  The global coronavirus pandemic could lead to more deaths worldwide through hunger than from the disease itself, humanitarian group Oxfam warned on Thursday.  

The coronavirus outbreak has worsened the hunger crisis in the world’s poorest regions and up to 12,000 people could die each day from hunger linked to the social and economic effects of the pandemic.   Its report said mass unemployment, disruption to food production and declining aid as a result of the pandemic could push an estimated 121 million people to the brink of starvation this year.   

‘The knock-on impacts of COVID-19 are far more widespread than the virus itself, pushing millions of the world’s poorest people deeper into hunger and poverty,’ said the group’s chief executive, Danny Sriskandarajah.   

‘It is vital governments contain the spread of this deadly disease, but they must also prevent it killing as many - if not more - people from hunger.’  

The charity said that in some of the world’s worst hunger ‘hot spots,’ including Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan, the food crisis is worsening because of border and supply route closures or a huge drop in remittances as result of the pandemic.