Greta Thunberg has expanded her activism to the fight against coronavirus, donating $100,000 (£80,000) in prize money to the United Nations to help support children during the pandemic.

“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis,” the Swedish youngster said in a statement. “It will affect all children, now and in the long-term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most.”

Ms Thunberg donated the $100,000 award she received this month from anti-poverty charity Human Act, which also matched her pledge, to kick-start a new campaign alongside Unicef that will seek to protect children from the direct and indirect consequences of Covid-19.

Unicef will use proceeds to buy soap, masks, gloves and other protective equipment to support the work of global healthcare systems fighting coronavirus, the UN children’s agency said in a statement.

Earlier this month, a UN report warned that while children have been largely spared from the direct health effects of the virus, the global economic downturn could result in hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020.

As many as 66 million more children could fall into extreme poverty this year due to the pandemic, adding to the estimated 386 million children in dire destitution in 2019, it said.

“Children and young people are among the most severely impacted by the knock-on effects of Covid-19,” said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore.

Unicef’s global Covid-19 response focuses on helping to reduce the transmission of the virus and mitigate its impact on children, while ensuring that essential services for young people continue.

This includes helping maintain critical immunisation for children, and supporting distance learning opportunities for those who cannot currently access school.

“The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest struggle the world has seen in generations,” Ms Fore added.

“Children and young people are among the most severely impacted by the knock-on effects of Covid-19, so it is only natural that they would want to do something about it.

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“Through her activism, Greta Thunberg has proven that young people are ready to take a stand and lead change in the world.”

Ms Thunberg, who said in March she had likely contracted a mild case of the virus, donated the funds through her non-profit organisation, the Greta Thunberg Foundation, which she set up this year to help battle climate change.

In a video posted on Instagram to support the Unicef campaign, the 17-year-old said: “It is always the poorest and most vulnerable people who will suffer the most from a crisis whether it is the climate crisis or the corona crisis and even though children may not seem to be the primary target group for the corona crisis, children’s lives are still at risk.