Coronavirus: How developing countries will deal with outbreak a ‘WILD CARD’ – Bill Gates

In the whole of Africa, there have been 5,856 cases and 201 deaths so far. This is far fewer than Europe, which has seen more than 30,000 deaths. Coronavirus tends to affect people who are older than 70 the most and Africa has a young population, but the continent’s health service could easily become overburdened.

Also people in developing countries are more likely to suffer from HIV, tuberculosis and malnutrition, which means the virus could be more deadly.

Speaking on Ted Talks Daily, the world’s second richest man said: “Sadly we could see in the next few months as the southern hemisphere is moving into its fall, and then winter, we could see a big increase there.

“That is going to be very difficult, now they don’t have as many older people but they have lots of people who have malnutrition or are HIV Positive or lung challenges because of indoor smoke.

“The wild card is how well can developing countries deal with this.”

Mr Gates warned these health systems could be easily overloaded.

He has warned of the potential of pandemics developing before, particularly as the world becomes increasingly globalised.

He also warned of the issue of health workers getting ill in these developing countries.

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The US billionaire said: “I am very worried that there will be a mass number of deaths in those poor countries because their of their health system.”

South Africa has implemented a 21-day lockdown to try and curb the spread of the virus in the country.

In Nigeria, the main cities are under coronavirus lockdown for at least two weeks as the Government shuts down markets and disinfects streets.

Save the Children has said: “If the virus continues to spread at this rate, the lives of thousands of children could be at risk, Save the Children said.

“A spike in COVID-19 cases could risk disrupting nutrition, immunisation and other health services for children if facilities become overstretched, health workers fall ill or families might stay away because of fears of contacting the virus.

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“This would impact efforts aimed at saving children from acute malnutrition and diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.

“In addition to this, as markets close and restrictions to movement are put into place, households will have less income to meet their basicneeds.

The US billionaire said: “I am very worried that there will be a mass number of deaths in those poor countries because their of their health system.”

South Africa has implemented a 21-day lockdown to try and curb the spread of the virus in the country.

In Nigeria, the main cities are under coronavirus lockdown for at least two weeks as the Government shuts down markets and disinfects streets.

Save the Children has said: “If the virus continues to spread at this rate, the lives of thousands of children could be at risk, Save the Children said.

“A spike in COVID-19 cases could risk disrupting nutrition, immunisation and other health services for children if facilities become overstretched, health workers fall ill or families might stay away because of fears of contacting the virus.

“This would impact efforts aimed at saving children from acute malnutrition and diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea.

“In addition to this, as markets close and restrictions to movement are put into place, households will have less income to meet their basic needs.

The Microsoft founder has increased his calls for more action to be taken by the US to beat COVID-19.

He has gone as far as saying there should be a nationwide shutdown, more testing and a better approach to developing treatments and a vaccine.

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