The coronavirus pandemic is far from over, Bill Gates has warned, saying there could still be a variant which is “even more transmissive and even more fatal”.
“We haven’t even seen the worst of it,” he said in an interview.
While not wanting to be a “voice of doom and gloom”, the risk of a more virulent variant emerging is “way above 5%”, the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist told the Financial Times.
“We’re still at risk of this pandemic generating a variant that would be even more transmissive and even more fatal,” he said, adding that longer-lasting vaccines which block infection are urgently required.
Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest people, has written a book called How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.
He is urging the creation of a team of international experts – ranging from epidemiologists to computer modellers – to identify threats and improve international coordination.
