Huge locust swarms hit India, East Africa amid coronavirus pandemic

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Locust outbreak devastating East Africa hits South Sudan

A major locust outbreak has reached South Sudan, endangering Africans across the country.

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As the world attempts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, India, Pakistan and a number of countries in East Africa are also battling invasions of desert locusts.

The Times of India reports that vast swarms of desert locusts have attacked crops in several Indian states, posing a major threat to food supplies. The swarms cover more than 50,000 hectares of western India, according to the BBC. Neighboring Pakistan declared a national emergency as a result of the locust swarms earlier this year, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports.

“Spring breeding continues in southern Iran and southwest Pakistan where control operations are in progress against hopper groups and bands as well as an increasing number of adult groups,” explains the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on its website. “As vegetation dries out, more groups and swarms will form and move from these areas to the summer breeding areas along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border as several waves from now until at least early July.”

CORONAVIRUS MAKES IT HARDER TO BATTLE SWARMS OF LOCUSTS RAVAGING AFRICA

A new and larger generation of locusts, numbering in the billions, is also on the move in East Africa, where some countries haven't seen such an outbreak in 70 years. Climate change has been partly blamed for the outbreak.

Swarms of locust attack in the residential areas of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Monday, May 25, 2020. (Photo by Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“The current situation remains extremely alarming in East Africa where Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia continue to face an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods,” explains the FAO of the United Nations. “New swarms from current breeding will form from mid-June onwards, coinciding with the start of the harvest.”

The added threat of COVID-19 imperils a region that already was home to about 20 percent of the world's population of food-insecure people, including millions in South Sudan and Somalia.

AFTER 17 YEARS UNDERGROUND, VAST ARMY OF CICADAS SET TO EMERGE

Yemen in the nearby Arabian Peninsula is also threatened, and United Nations officials warn that if locusts are not brought under control there, the conflict-hit country will remain a reservoir for further infestations in the region.

Lockdowns imposed for the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed efforts to combat the locusts, especially imports of the pesticides needed for aerial spraying that is called the only effective control.

The FAO reports that the desert locust situation in West Africa is currently calm, although this could change.

“There is a risk that a few swarms from spring breeding areas in Arabia and East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia) could reach the eastern part of the Sahel [region] in eastern Chad starting from early June if they migrate before the summer rains commence,” it explains. “While the current threat remains low, it can change significantly in the coming weeks based on rainfall, winds, and the locust situation in Arabia and East Africa.”

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As of Tuesday morning, over 5.51 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide and COVID-19 has accounted for 346,700 deaths.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.