HOUNDE, Burkina Faso (AP) The lean season is coming for Burkina Fasos children. And this time, the long wait for the harvest is bringing a hunger more ferocious than most have ever known.

That hunger is already stalking Haboue Solange Boue, an infant who has lost half her former body weight of 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) in the last month. With the markets closed because of coronavirus restrictions, her family sold fewer vegetables. Her mother is too malnourished to nurse her.

My child, Danssanin Lanizou whispers, choking back tears as she unwraps a blanket to reveal her babys protruding ribs. The infant whimpers soundlessly.

All around the world, the coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, cutting off meager farms from markets and isolating villages from food and medical aid. Virus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 more children a month over the first year of the pandemic, according to an urgent call to action from the United Nations shared with The Associated Press ahead of its publication in the Lancet medical journal.

Further, more than 550,000 additional children each month are being struck by what is called wasting, according to the U.N. malnutrition that manifests in spindly limbs and distended bellies. Over a year, thats up 6.7 million from last years total of 47 million. Wasting and stunting can permanently damage children physically and mentally, transforming individual tragedies into a generational catastrophe.

The food security effects of the COVID crisis are going to reflect many years from now, said Dr. Francesco Branca, the World Health Organization head of nutrition. There is going to be a societal effect.

In Burkina Faso, for example, one in five young children is chronically malnourished. Food prices have spiked, and 12 million of the countrys 20 million residents dont get enough to eat.

Lanizous husband, Yakouaran Boue, used to sell onions to buy seeds and fertilizer, but then the markets closed. Even now, a 50-kilogram bag of onions sells for a dollar less, which means less seed to plant for next year.

Im worried that this year we wont have enough food to feed her, he said, staring down at his daughter over his wifes shoulder. Im afraid shes going to die.