Pandemic-related disruptions caused tens of thousands more malaria deaths in 2020, the World Health Organisation says, but adds that urgent action has averted a far worse scenario.

In a fresh report, the UN health agency found that Covid-19 had reversed progress against the mosquito-borne disease, which was already plateauing before the pandemic struck, reports AFP.

There were an estimated 241 million malaria cases worldwide in 2020 — 14m more than a year earlier — and the once-rapidly-falling death toll swelled to 627,000 last year, jumping 69,000 from 2019.

Approximately two thirds of those additional deaths were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic, the WHO said.

But it stressed that the situation “could have been far worse”.