AKIPRESS.COM - A record 50.8 million people worldwide are internally displaced due to conflict or disaster, with coronavirus posing a new threat, a report warns.

In its annual report, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) says Covid-19 may add further risks to millions of already vulnerable people.

Over 45 million have been forced to abandon their homes due to violence.

A further five million have been displaced by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, the IDMC says.

It adds that the number of people internally displaced - those who flee conflict or disaster but remain in their own countries - has now reached a record high.

Contributing to the figures, it says, are 33.4 million new displacements recorded in 2019, the highest annual figure since 2012.