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UN: COVID-19 Worsening World Hunger

Margaret Besheer

   NEW YORK - The United Nations said Monday that 690 million people
   across the planet were undernourished last year, and an additional
   83-to 132 million are at risk this yeardue to the effectsof the
   coronavirus pandemic.

   "World hunger is still increasing -- up by 10 million people in one
   year and 60 million in five years," said Maximo Torero Cullen, chief
   economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is one
   of five U.N. agencies thatcompiled the report on world hunger.

   "Over 2 billion people do not have regular access to safe, nutritious
   and sufficient food," he added. Of that figure, about 746 million are
   severely food insecure and 1.25 billion are moderately food insecure.

   With nearly 13 million confirmed cases worldwide of COVID-19, the
   disease caused by the coronavirus, infections are rising as food stocks
   in some parts of the world are already low.'¯

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