U.N.: Coronavirus lockdown could kill hundreds of thousands of children across the globe
An exterior view of Bloomingdales during the coronavirus pandemic on April 16, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
A report from the United Nations is raising concerns about the effect the coronavirus pandemic will have on the world’s children.
The report says that hundreds of thousands of children across the globe could die due to the global economic downturn the virus is causing, and it says tens of millions more could end up living in extreme poverty.
The U.N. says the economic slump could end up reversing the progress that’s been made over the past few years in reducing infant mortality.
The report also says almost 200 countries around the world have closed schools nationwide, affecting more than 1.5B children.
Most nations around the world are slashing growth expectations as economies are rocked by the coronavirus pandemic. China’s economy shrank by 6.8 percent earlier this year after a lockdown to stop the outbreak and European and the International Monetary Fund is expecting a 3 percent global contraction in 2020, followed by a 5.8 percent expansion in 2021, assuming that economies reopen in the second half of the year.