Children in a refugee camp in Idlib province, Syria, March 10, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

Regional chief of UNICEF Ted Chaiban said in a statement that children in conflict-ridden parts of the Middle East and North Africa are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

Some 25 million children in the region are in need of humanitarian aid. Many of them are living in refugee camps, fleeing the fighting in Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

UNICEF estimates that an additional 4 million children are being pushed into poverty as millions of adults in the Middle East and North Africa lose their incomes because of nationwide lockdowns to fight the pandemic.