The coronavirus pandemic is putting tens of millions of children's lives at risk by disrupting routine immunisation programmes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef said, according to AFP.

“Covid-19 threatens to undermine life saving immunisation services around the world,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual joint press conference.

“This risks putting tens of millions of children — in rich and poor countries — at risk of killer diseases like diphtheria, measles and pneumonia.”