12,000 People Per Day Could Die From Covid-19 Linked Hunger By End Of Year; Warns Oxfam

An international none governmental organization (NGO) Oxfam Thursday warned the world about the horrible consequences of hunger emerged after coronavirus pandemic and said that as many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jul, 2020 ) :An international none governmental organization (NGO) Oxfam Thursday warned the world about the horrible consequences of hunger emerged after coronavirus pandemic and said that as many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease.

Oxfam in a news briefing, said that the global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day.

'The Hunger Virus,' reveals how 121 million more people could be pushed to the brink of starvation this year as a result of the social and economic fallout from the pandemic including through mass unemployment, disruption to food production and supplies, and declining aid.

Oxfam's Interim Executive Director Chema Vera said "COVID-19 is the last straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers. Meanwhile, those at the top are continuing to make a profit: eight of the biggest food and drink companies paid out over $18 billion to shareholders since January even as the pandemic was spreading across the globe - ten times more than the UN says is needed to stop people going hungry." The briefing reveals the world's ten worst hunger hotspots, places such as Venezuela and South Sudan where the food crisis was most severe and getting worse as a result of the pandemic. It also highlights emerging epicentres of hunger � middle income countries such as India, South Africa, and Brazil � where millions of people who were barely managing have been tipped over the edge by the pandemic, said a press release received here.

Oxfam declared the ten extreme hunger hotspots including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Venezuela, the West African Sahel, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Haiti.

Sharing statistic details of the few countries and their peoples's economic condition, said that Brazil: "Millions of poor workers, with little in the way of savings or benefits to fall back on, lost their incomes as a result of lockdown. Only 10 percent of the financial support promised by the Federal government had been distributed by late June with big business favored over workers and smaller more vulnerable companies".

India: "travel restrictions left farmers without vital migrant labour at the peak of the harvest season, forcing many to leave their crops in the field to rot. Traders have also been unable to reach tribal communities during the peak harvest season for forest products, depriving up to 100 million people of their main source of income for the year."Yemen: "Remittances dropped by 80 percent � or $253 million - in the first four months of 2020 as a result of mass job losses across the Gulf. Borders and supply route closures have led to food shortages and food price spikes in the country which imports 90 percent of its food."Sahel: "Restrictions on movement have prevented herders from driving their livestock to greener pastures for feeding, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people. Just 26 percent of the $2.8bn needed to respond to COVID-19 in the region has been pledged."