Bill Gates lists 4 things govts must do to get life back to normal after COVID-19 pandemic

As countries around the world begin to relax lockdown restrictions enforced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has revealed what must be done to get life back to normal.

The Microsoft founder who is now a leading voice on how to fight COVID-19 and has granted numerous interviews on how to battle it since it started, has recommended four things for life to “get back to normal”

Ahead of a CNN Town Hall interview with White House Infectious disease expert Dr Fauci on Thursday, Bill Gates released a list of four things that must be done by governments around the world to get life buzzing again.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: UN urges countries to avert ‘hunger catastrophe’ due to pandemic

1. Testing: Gates suggests various strategies to advance current testing methods including at-home test kits and consistent standards about who can get tested.

2. Contact Tracing: Gates suggests following Germany’s model. Interview everyone who tests positive and use a database to make sure someone follows up with all their contacts. However, this relies on the infected person reporting their contacts accurately and requires a lot of staff to follow up with everyone in person. Gates suggests technology may be more adept at this, such as apps that help you remember where you’ve been or using cell phones.

3. Effective Treatment: Right now, there is no treatment for Covid-19. On Wednesday, Fauci expressed optimism about an experimental drug called remdesevir, which is still in the trial phase. Other drugs like hydroxychloroquine have received a lot of attention but are still being studied. Treatments such as convalescent plasma – drawing blood from patients who have recovered from Covid-19, making sure it is free of the coronavirus and other infections, and giving the plasma and the antibodies it contains to sick people – look promising. But there is no magic drug experts can fully support yet.

4. A Vaccine: Many countries and companies around the world are working at break-neck speed to develop a vaccine faster — and there are promising signs. Gates is particularly excited about pursuing a new approach called an “RNA vaccine.”

According to Bill Gates: “Unlike a flu shot, which contains fragments of the influenza virus so your immune system can learn to attack them, an RNA vaccine gives your body the genetic code needed to produce viral fragments on its own,” So, once your body senses traces of the infection, it attacks it.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now