He said in the video briefing that WFP is providing food to nearly 100 million people on any given day, including “about 30 million people who literally depend on us to stay alive”.

Beasley, who is recovering from Covid-19, said if those 30 million people can’t be reached, “our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every single day over a three-month period” – and that doesn’t include increased starvation due to the coronavirus.

“In a worst-case scenario, we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries, and in fact, in 10 of these countries we already have more than one million people per country who are on the verge of starvation,” he said.

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According to WFP, the 10 countries with the worst food crises in 2019 were Yemen, Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Sudan, Nigeria and Haiti.

Beasley said in many countries the food crisis is the result of conflict.

But he said he raised the prospect of “a hunger pandemic” because “there is also a real danger that more people could potentially die from the economic impact of Covid-19 than from the virus itself.”

The WFP chief said lockdowns and economic recession were expected to lead to major income losses for the working poor.

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He pointed to a sharp drop in overseas remittances that will hurt countries such as Haiti, Nepal and Somalia; a loss of tourism revenue which, for example, will damage Ethiopia where it accounts for 47 per cent of total exports; and the collapse of oil prices which will have a significant impact in lower-income countries like South Sudan where oil accounts for almost 99 per cent of total exports.

As the UN’s logistics backbone, Beasley said WFP has played a major role in tackling Covid-19 by delivering millions of pieces of protective equipment, testing kits and face masks to 78 countries on behalf of the World Health Organisation and by running humanitarian air services to get doctors, nurses and humanitarian staff into countries that need help.

He urged greater humanitarian access, coordinated action to deliver aid, an end to trade disruptions, and accelerated and increased funding including US$350 million to set up a network of logistics hubs and transport systems to keep supply chains running worldwide.

“The truth is, we do not have time on our side, so let’s act wisely – and let’s act fast,” Beasley said. “I do believe that with our expertise and partnerships, we can bring together the teams and the programmes necessary to make certain the Covid-19 pandemic does not become a humanitarian and food crisis catastrophe.”

Additional reporting by Bloomberg