(Republicaninformer.com)- Last week, while visiting India to review the progress the country has made after the pandemic, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates suggested the world may need some kind of early warning system to respond to viral outbreaks, arguing that such a system would be just as important as creating faster diagnostics and vaccine production, the Times of India reported.
According to the Times of India, Gates believes much more should be done globally to improve “practice and surveillance.” He claimed that another pandemic could be more fatal than the last which killed more than 20 million people worldwide. He said it was possible that the world could face a pandemic that kills hundreds of millions of people.
However, Gates added that governments worldwide are better prepared for the next pandemic having learned a great deal from the coronavirus outbreak.
Gates also described India as one of the “bright spots” in the global economy. He noted while it hasn’t been “immune” to inflation, India’s economy has not suffered the same “inflationary pressures” as other nations, saying inflation has been “less acute” in India than it has been elsewhere, including in the US and Europe.
He also praised the Indian government for its “ambitious goals” and said the Gates Foundation wants to work with the government to eradicate lymphatic filariasis and visceral leishmaniasis, as well as lowering the “TB burden” “substantially.” Gates said that while the health statistics are good, there is still “plenty of work to do.”
The billionaire philanthropist also said that the biggest threats the world faces today are bioterrorism and nuclear weapons. He dismissed the idea that artificial intelligence is a threat, saying the AI of today can write and “help with a lot of things,” but artificial intelligence isn’t a weapon whereas nuclear and bioterrorism are “among the greatest concerns.”
