Bill Gates, an altruist, referred Coronavirus as a ‘once-in-a-century’ pathogen
Highlights
- Bill Gates compared the COVID-19 to the SARS outbreak in 2003
- Bill Gates pled people around the globe to help countries in Africa and South Asia to save lives.
Bill Gates has issued a firm warning to governments around the globe on the 28th of February that Coronavirus could be a ‘once-in-a-century’ pathogen. He posted in his new blog that the peculiar Coronavirus that first emerged in China has now spread to 46 countries on different continents. This ‘virus’ is much harder to contain than the similar viruses which caused Middle- East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS).
The virus is capable of killing a perfectly healthy adult and the average mortality rate of this ‘flu’ is a major concern, which is 1%, higher than typical influenza. It can even be transmitted by a person who is mildly ill or even has no symptoms of the ‘flu’.
The Non- profit organization of Bill Gates, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had been donating to prepare people for such a pandemic from the past few years.
Gates emphasized on accelerating the vaccine testing programs. He wrote in the post, “ If any of the prepared vaccines are proved safe and effective on animal models than these could be ready for the large scale trial as early as June.”
Microsoft co-founder pled the wealthy nations to help low and average-income countries like Africa and South-Asia which will save millions of innocent people and will also help to slow down the global circulation of the virus. His appeal was echoed on Friday by the WHO(World Health Organisation) who implored the government to swing into action to encompass the virus before it worsens the situation.
Mr. Gates conveyed that the world needs to invest in disease surveillance and should accelerate the development of safe and efficient vaccines. Further adding, he said that making the vaccines and drugs affordable for everyone will aid to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Health and Human Services Secretary of the USA, Alex Azar, conveyed that any vaccine developed in the collaboration with the government would be financially accessible to the public.
