Devex: WFP chief warns of ‘hunger pandemic’ as COVID-19 threatens food security
“An already bleak global food security picture will be compounded as the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic destroy livelihoods, disrupt supply chains, strain national budgets, and restrict trade, the Global Network Against Food Crises has warned. The concerns were raised Tuesday as the group released its annual ‘Global Report on Food Crises,’ which calculated that 135 million people in 55 countries and territories were suffering from acute food insecurity. That number could double as another 130 million are impacted by the pandemic, World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council…” (Welsh, 4/22).

The Guardian: ‘Millions hang by a thread’: extreme global hunger compounded by Covid-19
“The warning from the World Food Programme (WFP) that 265 million people could be pushed into acute food insecurity by Covid-19, almost doubling last year’s total, is based on a complex combination of factors. WFP’s latest warning underlines the increasing concern among experts in the field that for many the biggest impact will not be the disease, but the hunger hanging off its coat tails…” (Beaumont, 4/21).

U.N. News: As famines of ‘biblical proportion’ loom, Security Council urged to ‘act fast’
“The world is not only facing ‘a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe,’ the U.N. food relief agency chief told the Security Council on Tuesday via video link. Noting that the global spread of COVID-19 this year has sparked ‘the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two,’ Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley pointed to deepening crises, more frequent natural disasters and changing weather patterns, saying ‘we’re already facing a perfect storm’…” (4/21).

Additional coverage of the hunger warnings is available from AP, The Guardian, NPR, Reuters, and U.N. News.