“This assistance will provide the UN World Food Program’s emergency food operation in southern Yemen, as well as a reduced operation in northern Yemen, which the WFP was forced to scale down earlier this month because of ongoing interference of the Iran-backed Houthis,” Pompeo said.

According to the statement by WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean on COVID-19 in Yemen, coronavirus pandemic may potentially affect over 50% of the population in the country.

Coronavirus pandemic was officially spread to Yemen on 10 April 2020 when its first confirmed case in Hadhramaut. Organizations called the news a “devastating blow” and a “nightmare scenario” given the country's already dire humanitarian situation.

The country is seen to be extremely vulnerable to the outbreak, given the dire humanitarian situation due to the Yemeni Civil War, exacerbated by the ongoing famine, cholera outbreaks, and military blockade by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The Yemeni healthcare system has been “all but decimated” by the war, with many healthcare facilities destroyed by airstrikes and shelling and a lack of healthcare workers.

ILKHA