The World Food Program talks of a famine of Biblical proportions.

The WFP says the coronavirus crisis will push more than  a quarter of a billion people living in conflict zones to the brink of starvation.

That’s twice the number of people suffering acute food shortage last year.

The WFP’s chief economist Dr Harif Husain tells the UN Security Council  COVID 19 is catastrophic for people already hanging on by a thread.

It’s a hammer blow for millions who can only eat if they earn a wage.

Lockdowns and the economic recession has decimated their nest eggs. COVID 19 will drive them over the edge

More than 20 million people  are driven to starvation by the desert locust infestation in East Africa and the Horn.

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The FAO says pesticides deliveries to those fighting the pests are being delayed.

Secretary General of  the regional organisation IGAD Workneh Gebeyehu says they’ve been caught between the hammer and anvil.

The lockdown to-stem the COVID 19 pandemic comes at the crunch time for their fight against the desert locus swarms.

Head of Resilience at the Food and Agriculture Organisation Cyril Ferrand says the locusts are endangering the food security of more than 25 million people. 

This morning figures show COVID19 has infected nearly 8 000 people in Africa and killed 334.

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