Farmers collect tomatoes at farmland in Damascus, capital of Syria, June 29, 2020. A staggering 9.3 million Syrians are now going to sleep hungry and more another two million are at risk of a similar fate, international NGOs said in a joint statement Monday. Photo:Xinhua

Governments are set to pledge billions of dollars in aid for Syrians at a virtual conference on Tuesday to help refugees enduring Syria's ninth year of armed conflict, as COVID-19 and high food prices worsen the plight of millions.

In 2020, the United Nations is looking for almost $10 billion for people in Syria and surrounding countries. It hopes much of that will come from the 60 governments and nongovernmental agencies gathering by video link on Tuesday from 0800 GMT. The European Union is hosting the event.

The pledging, now an annual event, breaks down into a UN appeal of $3.8 billion for aid inside Syria and $6.04 billion for countries hosting refugees. Only a fraction has been raised so far. "The needs have never been greater," said Corinne Fleischer at the World Food Programme, a UN agency.

In Syria, more than 11 million people need aid and protection, the UN says, while 6.6 million have fled to neighboring countries in the world's largest refugee crisis.

Many Syrians face an unprecedented hunger crisis, with over 9.3 million people lacking adequate food, while the country's coronavirus outbreak could accelerate, UN aid agencies said. The number of people short of essential foodstuffs had risen by 1.4 million in the past six months. A combination of an economic slump and COVID-19 lockdown measures have pushed food prices more than 200 percent higher in less than a year, according to the World Food Programme.

"The COVID-19 crisis has had an immediate and devastating impact on livelihoods of millions of Syrian refugees and their hosts in the region," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

However, money pledged is only what European officials call a sticking plaster to meet Syrians' immediate needs. 

Food prices had also soared by more than 200 percent in less than a year due to the freefall in neighboring Lebanon's economy and COVID-19 lockdown measures in Syria, WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said on Friday.
Newspaper headline: Hunger crisis deepens, virus outbreak might accelerate