Covid pandemic ‘gigantic setback’ for progress of humanity, says Bill Gates
Bill Gates called for investment in creating a global pandemic preparedness system
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Bill Gates has said that the coronavirus pandemic, almost like the World War in scale, is a “gigantic setback” for humanity, but has held out hope that in two to five years normalcy will be restored as the infection abates.
“The pandemic is certainly a gigantic setback, and it’s actually hard to measure because although the economic figures are clear, there are lots of mental health problems,” the billionaire philanthropist said in an interview with the Indian Express.
“Somewhere between two to five years from now, we will get back to where we were before the pandemic came so it’s not a permanent reduction,” the Microsoft founder told the national daily.
Explaining the proportion of the devastation caused by the virus, Mr Gates said, “it is almost like World War in terms of scale, because even countries without many deaths have seen their economies devastated.”
On Wednesday, Mr Gates also outlined his ambitious plan to prevent the next pandemic outbreak, as he called for investment in creating a global pandemic preparedness system. “The world needs to spend billions to save trillions (and prevent millions of deaths),” he said in an annual newsletter co-authored by Melinda Gates.
Mr and Ms Gates, who oversee the Seattle-based Gates Foundation, said that huge amounts of money need to be spent on scientific research, mass testing, alert systems and an international team of ‘infectious disease first responders’ capable of raising the alarm about new diseases.
“By the next pandemic,” the Gates couple is hopeful, that we’ll have “mega-diagnostic platforms, which could test as much as 20 per cent of the global population every week.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments