United Nations, July 7 (RHC)-- COVID-19 could cause an additional half a million AIDS deaths if treatment is disrupted long term, the United Nations said in a warning the pandemic was jeopardising years of progress against HIV.

About 1.7 million people were infected last year, and there are now close to 40 million people living with HIV worldwide. The UN's annual report said the 2020 target of reducing AIDS-related deaths to fewer than 500,000 and new HIV infections to under 500,000 will now be missed.

"Like the HIV epidemic before it, the COVID-19 pandemic is exposing our world's fragilities - including persistent economic and social inequalities and woefully inadequate investments in public health," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Millions of people had died in recent decades despite the existence of effective treatments. Although AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 60 percent since the peak of the HIV epidemic in 2004, in 2019 around 690,000 still died from the illness.