New York: In 2015, while giving a lecture at TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Talks, Bill Gates had warned the world about the spread of a pandemic which would kill people and bring the world economy to a halt.
He had said that the world was not prepared to face the pandemic.
Gates had further said if the wealthiest nations had prepared for a pandemic with same priority as they have prepared for nuclear war, they could have avoided today’s disaster.
Today, the world is shocked at the rate the COVID-19 is spreading. The deaths have exceeded 11,000 with more than 276,462 infections.
The possible outbreak of pandemic was overlooked by the governments even after the outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2013, which caused 11,310 deaths in West Africa.
Gates said that the world was lucky as the Ebola virus was confined only to West Africa. ‘Next time, we might not be so lucky’, he had said.
He urged the Western governments to take the pandemic as seriously as they are taking the military threats.
‘If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus unlike a war . . . not missiles, but microbes’, said Gates.
He advised the world governments to run simulations known as ‘germ games’ to prepare themselves for future pandemic, as they prepare simulations for future military conflicts.
Bill Gates, who stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft last year is working in the field of philanthropy. He is devoting his time in the efforts to eradicate diseases in developing world.