PARIS: Covid-19 could cause an additional half a million AIDS deaths if treatment is disrupted long term, the United Nations said Monday in a warning that the pandemic was jeopardising years of progress against HIV.

At the start of a week of virtual International AIDS Conferences, the UN said the world was already way off course in its plan to end the public health threat even before Covid-19. The UN's annual report said that 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.

Key populations at high-risk of HIV/AIDS are being put in further danger as lockdowns and distribution of medicines leaves them "even more vulnerable than usual", the report said. Research released Monday showed the pandemic was already impacting access to preventative medicine (PrEP) among at communities at risk.