The Secours populaire is alarmed on Wednesday by the devastation of the health crisis and warns of an outbreak of poverty unprecedented since World War II, after a confinement that has exploded the number of new precarious.

The Secours populaire recorded an explosion in requests for food aid during confinement, where nearly one in two applicants was a newcomer, according to the association's latest barometer published on Wednesday.

During the two months of confinement, 1,270,000 people requested help from the Secours populaire in its reception centers - against 3.3 throughout 2019. Among these applicants, 45% were previously unknown to the association, indicates this barometer carried out with Ipsos.

"Still increasing"

"An absolutely enormous figure", warns Henriette Steinberg, general secretary of the association.

"But I'm afraid it's still on the rise," she told AFP.

The confinement has also accentuated educational inequalities, with the "lack of computer equipment (computers, printers) and internet access to follow the school remotely, cramped housing does not allow isolation to study in peace ", underlines the association, recalling that 500,000 children would have dropped out of school.

An unprecedented situation "since World War II"

Students, many of whom have odd jobs to finance their studies, represent another category hard hit by the crisis and the unemployment that has accompanied it.

"We have never experienced a situation like this since the Second World War, and there is an urgent need to help all these people", affirms the association manager.

"Many had never asked for help from anyone. And there, not only do they no longer have enough to eat, but they can no longer pay their rent or electricity."

In 2019, the Secours populaire had in total helped nearly 3.3 million people and expects a "much higher" figure for 2020. In France, the sharp rise in unemployment already recorded in 2020 is likely to continue, with 800,000 job cuts expected this year according to the Banque de France, even before the announcement of new health restriction measures on September 23.

According to the UN, globally, the Covid-19 pandemic could push more than 130 million additional people into chronic hunger by the end of the year.