ISLAMABAD, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided emergency cash assistance to over 50,000 Afghan refugee families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan, the refugee agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The UNHCR is targeting 70,000 of the most vulnerable refugee families, out of which 50,000 have been provided financial assistance in collaboration with the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions of Pakistan, and Pakistan Post which is disbursing the emergency cash assistance, according to the statement.

Pakistan hosts more than 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration cards, according to the UN refugee agency. Besides registered refugees, Pakistan also hosts about 1 million unregistered refugees.

During the pandemic, many Afghan refugees, including daily wage earners, were left without a source of income.

Indrika Ratwatte, the UN refugee agency's regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said the assistance will help those hardest hit by the economic downturn, and enable refugees to meet their most urgent needs.

Ratwatte also thanked the Pakistani government for providing refugees with access to public services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement added.