Bill Gates calls coronavirus a 'once-in-a-century' pathogen

Bill Gates, at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland, last year. Recently, he said that the coronavirus has started to behave like a 'once-in-a-century' pathogen. – Reuters

CHICAGO: Philanthropist Bill Gates on Feb 28 urged wealthy nations to help low and middle-income countries strengthen their health systems in hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, which Gates said has started to behave like a "once-in-a-century" pathogen.

"By helping countries in Africa and South Asia get ready now, we can save lives and also slow the global circulation of this virus," Gates, the former chairman and chief executive of Microsoft Corp, wrote in an editorial in The New England Journal Of Medicine.