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Had COVID-19 not struck, Asia Pacific could have brought down extreme poverty to a level achievable in 2020 itself, enabling more people to improve living standards from surviving at less than USD 1.90 per day, an ADB report said. The COVID-19 pandemic has set back the fight against poverty in Asia and the Pacific by at least two years, said the latest report by Asian Development Bank (ADB). The Manila-headquartered multilateral funding agency said many living in the Asia Pacific region will likely find it harder than before to come out of extreme poverty. Citing data simulations, ADB said those with lower pre-pandemic levels of social mobility, the ability to escape poverty, may witness "longer-lasting setbacks". COVID-19 has interrupted a long trend of poverty reduction, it said, adding that despite the economies seeming to be recovering the progress remains uneven.