An estimated 8.12 million children in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance in order to survive the ongoing year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, charity group Save the Children warned in a statement on Friday.
The organisation earlier this year reported that some 5.26 million Afghan children needed some sort of emergency assistance if they were to survive.
However, due to the ongoing lockdown and social-distancing policies, an additional three million more have been added to the list in recent months.
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Across the country, many markets – which were providing a minimum daily wage for millions – were forced to shut down due to the pandemic.
“For millions, health facilities are simply not easily accessible. The few that are operating and accessible lack basic resources, including COVID-19 testing kits and capacity to treat the very sick.
“It is therefore vital that humanitarian and commercial goods are allowed to flow into Afghanistan, and rapidly sent to where they are needed most.” Milan Dinic, Save the Children’s country director in Afghanistan, said.
In total, according to the United Nations’ estimate, some 14 million Afghans need emergency aid, a huge increase since December 2019, when the number was about 9.4 million.
The warning comes at the time when the Afghan government recently approved a new three-month lockdown in major cities in an effort to contain the circulation of the virus.