More than 8 million Afghan children will need emergency assistance in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis, as it’s announced the war-torn country is the deadliest place for children for the fifth year straight.
The global pandemic has left 8.12 million children in Afghanistan in need of some kind of humanitarian support, Save the Children said on Monday, meaning 4 out of every 10 children in the country will rely on aid in some form.
“Since the global pandemic has wreaked havoc on Afghan public services, access to healthcare, and the economy, all of which are heavily reliant on foreign aid, the number of children needing life-saving support is spiking” the charity said in a statement.
The United Nations also said that Afghanistan was the deadliest country on the planet for children for the fifth year straight.
In its annual Children in Armed Conflict report, the UN reported more than 3,000 Afghan children were killed in 2019, mainly by ground fighting, improvised explosive devices and suicide attacks.
UN secretary general António Guterres said he is “extremely concerned” about the increased number of children killed and maimed by all parties, “in particular by the 67% increase in incidents resulting from suicide attacks involving the use of improvised explosive devices and from complex attacks”.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Afghanistan passed 26,000 on Tuesday after the health ministry detected 793 new cases from 1,640 tests in the last 24 hours.
At least 13 patients also died overnight, pushing the death toll to 491. There have been 5,508 recoveries. The ministry has so far tested 59,172 patients.
No official figures were released by health officials in the western province of Herat for the fourth day straight. The province’s laboratory has halted work due to a lack of kits.