BEIRUT, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that 300,000 people, including around 100,000 children, in Beirut continue to face a lack of access to critical safe water and sanitation services, more than three weeks after the huge explosions that hit Beirut's port.

The UNICEF reported that public water infrastructure remained mostly functional, but the explosions compounded an already precarious situation in terms of access to safe water and sanitation in the greater Beirut area, with a significant number of water tanks and plumbing systems in buildings near the blast being damaged.

"An estimated 130 buildings in the affected area have been completely disconnected from the main water network and the water systems of more than 500 occupied buildings have been damaged," UNICEF said in a statement released on its website.

The UNICEF Lebanon representative Yukie Mokuo said as COVID-19 cases continue to surge, it is more critical than ever to ensure that children and families whose lives were turned upside down by the explosions have access to safe water and sanitation.

"When communities don't have access to this critical necessity, the risk of water-borne diseases, as well as COVID-19, can skyrocket," she added.

The statement noted that UNICEF and partners have re-connected over 100 buildings to the public water system and installed 570 water tanks in damaged households out of an estimated need of 3,300 tanks to be replaced; the UNICEF also provided water to first respondents, and has distributed more than 4,340 hygiene kits and 620 baby kits to affected families, and ensured water trucking to 20 households and three hubs of the Lebanese Red Cross.