Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, has warned people that the worst of Covid-19 pandemic is still to come.
It has been more than two years since the Covid-19 virus first appeared. Since then, the world has experienced three different waves of the virus and multiple lockdowns. But now, as the Covid-19 protocols are easing in various countries including India, with people no longer wearing masks, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has issued a new warning that the pandemic is not over yet. Gates stated that there could still be a new variant of the virus which can be much more dangerous than the ones we have seen so far.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates said, “We’re still at risk of this pandemic generating a variant that would be even more transmissive and even more fatal….” He added, “We haven’t even seen the worst of it.”
The worst of the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, says Bill Gates
The Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist first cautioned the world in 2015 when he said that the world was not ready for the inevitable next pandemic. He had also expressed that his proposed Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization (GERM) initiative should be run by the WHO. Now, as the Ukraine war has taken the center stage for conversations, Gates urged global leaders to not forget about the Covid-19 pandemic and other health crises in the world.
“It seems wild to me that we could fail to look at this tragedy and not, on behalf of the citizens of the world, make these investments,” the billionaire philanthropist told Financial Times.
More than 6.2 million people have died since January 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Statista. Gates believes the best way to mitigate the current crisis and any future crisis is to increase funds for WHO so that they can build and manage the GERM team. He estimated that it would cost around $1 Bn per year to run the project.
“The amount of money involved is very small compared to the benefit and it will be a test: can global institutions take on new responsibilities in an excellent way, even in a time period where US-China [relations are] tough, US-Russia is extremely tough?” asked Gates.
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