One Pandemic Brings Another

The economic fallout from COVID-19 is on track to create a “hunger pandemic” that could kill more people than the virus itself, World Food Programme chief David Beasley warns, AP reports.
 
As ever, developing nations will be hit hardest. Without swift intervention, “multiple famines of biblical proportions” could surface in the coming months.
 
But this is a new type of food crisis. Severe hunger crises tend to be regional and driven by isolated factors—this one is spurred by a pile-up of global factors linked to a single virus. Collapsing oil prices and the halting of tourism add to perennial problems like climate change, the New York Times reports.

In a Washington Post commentary, Beasley urged wealthy nations to “act now to ensure that those who stand to lose the most at least have a chance of survival.”