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The coronavirus pandemic could push an additional half a billion people into poverty, aid charity Oxfam has warned, demanding that world leaders contain the economic fallout and cancel $1 trillion of developing countries' debt payments in 2020, Al Jazeera reports.

Oxfam is ringing the alarm for richer nations to agree to an "Economic Rescue Package for All", which would enable the governments of poor countries to provide cash to those who have lost their livelihoods.

The call comes ahead of crucial gatherings of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers next week.

Up to 600 million people risk falling into poverty as major economies shut down to halt the spread of COVID-19, according to Oxfam's new report Dignity Not Destitution. The pandemic could push development gains back by as much as three decades in some places in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. 

The findings, conducted by researchers at King’s College London and the Australian National University,  also estimate that over half of the world's 7.8 billion people could be living in poverty in the virus's aftermath.