The United Nations (UN) food agency said in a statement it had been operating such flights to 132 countries amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) travel bans and closed borders in many parts of the world that had caused logistic nightmares for the delivery of humanitarian aid and personnel.

The WFP's aviation service had, over recent months, transported huge volumes of urgently needed medical supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE) face masks and ventilators, as well as staff from scores of aid organisations.

WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs said unless a substantial injection of funds was provided by donors by early July, the WFP would be forced to ground most of its humanitarian air fleet by the end of next month.

The WFP's Covid-19 response was on a scale never seen before, and with the coronavirus showing no signs of abating, it was crucial that the response did not stop now when it was needed most.

“I think all the operations will be affected because you need money to get to charter a plane for passenger and medical evacuation or to transport cargo. I know that slowly and slowly, step by step, some commercial flights will resume and we use them as often as it’s possible, but there will still be countries, especially in regions like the Middle East, where it’s badly needed," she said.

Byrs warned of severe consequences should the humanitarian flights cease. Without the service, hospitals in developing countries would not receive desperately needed medical supplies.

"Health centres serving pregnant women and undernourished children would not receive life-saving nutritional products for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition,” she said.

The WFP operates a network of so-called global aid hubs in China, Belgium, and the United Arab Emirates, near the locations where supplies are manufactured. It also controls regional hubs in Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Malaysia, Panama, and Dubai.

African News Agency (ANA)