U.N. alarmed by locust outbreak on verge of ‘plague’

Amid a locust infestation in East Africa threatening to explode to biblical proportions, the United Nations is warning that the already vulnerable region “simply cannot afford another major shock.”

Swarms of billions of insects are destroying crops in Kenya, the country’s worst outbreak in 70 years, the Associated Press reported. Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing their worst outbreak in a quarter-century amid exceptionally heavy rains that are favorable to the insects.

“There is the risk of a catastrophe,” U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said Monday in New York at a briefing.

Last week, Burgeon told the AP that without enough aerial spraying, the outbreak could turn into a plague, “and when you have a plague, it takes years to control.

MORE: https://www.wnd.com/2020/02/u-n-alarmed-locust-outbreak-verge-plague/