Hunger is increasing in Yemen due to families losing at least half of their income as coronavirus spreads across the country, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Wednesday.
The country has recorded more than 1,600 infected cases of the virus and 456 deaths since the pandemic began.
But since the first Covid-19 patient was reported in April, the true scale of the outbreak has been impossible to determine.
A survey conducted by the council found that one in four vulnerable families have lost all their income since the outbreak began the country.
The survey showed that 94 per cent of families reported a lack of food as a top concern and almost 50 per cent of respondents said they lost at least half of their income, just as prices for food and water went up.
"The coronavirus pandemic, coming on top of a lethal confluence of other challenges, has accelerated the misery of the poorest nation in the region, with more families already in poverty earning even less and facing more hunger," the council's country director for Yemen, Mohamed Abdi, said.
“The families we spoke to were already on the edge of survival and now almost all of them tell us their situation is worse."
The UN said Yemen was facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis with about 24 million people, about 80 per cent of the population, dependent on aid to survive and millions on the brink of starvation.
Families interviewed by the council said they had to flee their homes because of the war and were now living in inadequate, overcrowded conditions.
People are working for low pay to support their families.
-
A child wears a face mask depicting Disney characters amid concerns over the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Kolkata, India. AFP -
Registered Nurse Michelle Gibbons conducts a Covid-19 swab test on a man at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images -
Paramedics help a person with symptoms of Covid-19 as they arrive for treatment to the emergency area of the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Reuters -
A health worker walks between beds at a temporary field hospital set up in a sports complex by Medecins Sans Frontieres during the Covid-19 outbreak in Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa. Reuters -
Passengers on a Shinkansen bullet train bound for Okayama leave a railway station in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. AFP -
People walk through a house of mirrors attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Reuters -
A passenger is confirmed to board as he uses biometric boarding for an international flight from IAH George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, USA. Reuters -
A food delivery man passes a food pack to a masked woman outside an office building in Beijing, China. AP Photo -
A waiter sprays tables with disinfectant to curb the spread of the coronavirus at a restaurant in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. AP Photo -
Vendors wearing face masks for protection against Covid-19 chat beside a fruit stand at a market in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Reuters -
Workers sit apart to maintain social distancing as a preventive measure against Covid-19 during a protest against a bill on job creation they believe will deprive workers of their rights, outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. AFP -
Mexican architect Percibald Garcia reads aloud a different story from a book everyday to children stuck at home in an apartment complex in the Tlatelolco neighbourhood in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters -
A visitor walks at the Gyeongbok Palace, one of South Korea's well-known landmarks, in Seoul, South Korea. AP Photo -
US President Donald Trump listens to a question from ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl as he holds a Covid-19 response news briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, USA. Reuters
“Our main meal is bread and tea. Even potatoes are out of reach,” said Abdulrahman, a former fisherman from Hodeidah who was surviving on aid.
He was working as a labourer but that has now dried up.
Never before have Yemenis faced so many threats at once and all this at the height of a devastating pandemic, Mr Abdi said.
He called for a ceasefire and rescue packages for the millions of displaced people.
