Haven't even seen the worst of the Covid pandemic, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates alerted and further noted that a new variant could be "even more transmissive and even more fatal" than the Delta and Omicron variants. To tackle the situation in advance, he stressed the need for increased global surveillance
Noting that he doesn't want to seem like "voice of doom and gloom", Gates said during an interview with Financial Times, “but, the risk of a more virulent variant emerging is way above 5%.”
"We're still at risk of this pandemic generating a variant that would be even more transmissive and even more fatal," he said.
The Microsoft co-founder also suggested that an international team of experts, which will include epidemiologists and computer modellers, can be formed to predict future threats and improve international coordination.
Also, World Health Organisation should investment more in order to tackle the situation much in advance. "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 said.
Gates has been issuing a warning regarding pandemic for the last couple of years. In 2015, he first cautioned publicly that the "world was not ready for the inevitable next pandemic" and that viruses, not war, pose the greatest risk of "global catastrophe".
Recently, he also wrote a book "How to Prevent the Next Pandemic" that talks about lessons learned from the COVID pandemic and how to prevent the next one.
