12,000 people per day could die from Covid-19 linked hunger by end of year; warns Oxfam.

ISLAMABAD -- 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...