Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation (BMGF), has said that he does not understand why coronavirus
numbers have not been as high as predicted in Africa.
Recall that Gates and his wife, Melinda had in more than one
occasion, warned that there
will be dead bodies all over the streets of Africa if the world does
not act fast enough.
Melinda said her heart was in Africa, adding that she is
worried that the continent might not be able to handle the devastating effect
of the virus.
But in his end of the year note, Bill said he was happy his
prediction about Africa has not happened, “One thing I’m happy to have been
wrong about—at least, I hope I was wrong—is my fear that COVID-19 would run
rampant in low-income countries. So far, this hasn’t been true,” he wrote.
In most of sub-Saharan Africa, for example, case rates and
death rates remain much lower than in the U.S. or Europe and on par with New
Zealand, which has received so much attention for its handling of the virus.
“The hardest-hit country on the continent is South
Africa—but even there, the case rate is 40 percent lower than in the U.S., and
the death rate is nearly 50 percent lower.
“We don’t have enough data yet to understand why the numbers
aren’t as high as I worried they would get — but gave probable reasons Africa
was not as affected as expected.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria is currently fighting the second wave of
the coronavirus.
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had last week
announced a second wave of the dreaded virus.
The Federal Government on Tuesday directed civil servants
from grade level 12 and below to
stay at home.
They are to remain at home for five weeks following the
second wave of the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Friday stated
that COVID-19 related deaths now stands at 1,246.
Nigeria currently has a total of 82,747
confirmed cases in the country.
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