The head of the United Nations' food agency has warned that, as the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it is also "on the brink of a hunger pandemic" that could lead to "multiple famines of biblical proportions" within a few months.
World Food Programme executive director David Beasley told the UN Security Council that even before Covid-19 became an issue, he was telling world leaders that "2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two".
He cited wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters and economic crises including in Lebanon, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia.