This photo taken on September 3, 2019 shows a damaged school in Yemen�s city of Tai�zz as children listen to their teacher on the first day of the new academic year. (By AFP)

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) says a Saudi-led military campaign underway against Yemen has pushed back the country�s development more than two decades, and is now complicating the war-torn nation�s efforts to rein in the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the UNDP stated that not only has the Saudi-led war hindered Yemen�s development but it also has brought catastrophic consequences for the war-ravaged country amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The UN body called for immediate action to assist the Yemenis in acquiring basic survival needs such as food and health supplies amid their battle against the disease (COVID-19).

According to the latest figures, 56 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Yemen, nine of whom have died and one person has recovered thus far.

On Monday, Yemen�s emergency coronavirus committee declared Aden - which has served as the seat of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi�s former regime during the Saudi military aggression - an infested city.

In recent months, the port city has been torn by rivalry between Saudi-allied forces loyal to Hadi and separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates, Riyadh�s key coalition partner in the bloody war on Yemen.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned a humanitarian disaster will result from the spread of the COVID-19 due to Yemen�s crippled health infrastructure and its potential failure to address the situation.

The Saudi regime and its allies launched the military campaign against Yemen in 2015 to reinstall the ex-Hadi regime.

More than half of Yemen�s hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed during the war by the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported militarily by the UK, US and other Western nations.

At least 80% of the 28 million-strong population is also reliant on aid to survive in what the United Nations has described as the world�s worst humanitarian crisis.

SOURCE: PRESS TV