Coronavirus crisis could plunge half a billion people into povery - Oxfam
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People in South Africa put out of work by the coronavirus crisis queue up for food aid.
On Thursday Oxfam said the fallout from the coronavirus spread could push around half a billion people into poverty.
The pandemic has killed more than 83,000 people and wreaked havoc on economies around the world.
The charity's report calculated the impact of the crisis on global poverty due to shrinking household incomes or consumption.
It says that the economic crisis is deeper than the 2008 global financial crisis
Adding that increases in global poverty could throw some countries back to levels of deprivation last seen some three decades ago.
Under the most serious scenario - a 20% contraction in income - the number of people living in extreme poverty would rise by 434 million people to nearly 1.2 billion worldwide.
Women are at more risk than men, as they are more likely to work in the informal economy with little or no employment rights.
