The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands more people, had slipped into the severely-hungry category in Zimbabwe, where over half of the population faces hunger.

It said a recent study revealed that the "number of acutely food insecure Zimbabweans, had risen to 4.3 million from 3.8 million at the end of last year".

In all 7.7 million people, more than half the population were food insecure, and needed multi-sectoral humanitarian support according to the UN.

In previous hunger years, mainly the rural population would require food aid, but lately millions of urban dwellers need food aid in Zimbabwe.

WFP's Zimbabwe country director Eddie Rowe, said with most Zimbabweans already struggling to put food on the table, the COVID-19 pandemic left more people vulnerable.