The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a 40% increase in the number of people needing humanitarian assistance around the globe, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as it appealed for roughly $35 billion to help many of those expected to be in need next year. “If everyone who will need humanitarian aid next year lived in one country, it would be the world’s fifth largest nation,” U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said. “The pandemic has wreaked carnage across the most fragile and vulnerable countries,” he added. The United Nations has set out 34 humanitarian response plans covering 56 countries for 2021, aiming to help 160 million […]