Covid-19’s disruption of healthcare [actually disruption caused by lockdowns and hysteria] in South Asia led to nearly a quarter of a million young children’s deaths last year, the United Nations has estimated.

An analysis of the impact of closed clinics and suspended health programmes suggested there had been large numbers of extra deaths soon after birth or from malnutrition and childhood diseases.

Modelling from the UN’s children’s body, Unicef, estimated that there had been 229,000 more deaths among under fives than in 2019. Three-out-of-five of those deaths were thought to be among newborns.

The research in Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, also estimated an extra 89,000 stillbirths over the year. The report called Direct and Indirect Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Response in South Asia, looked at the effect of government lockdown strategies on healthcare, social services, education and the economy.