In 2015, the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned the world in a TED speech that highly infectious viruses would kill millions of people in the future. The video has been watched over 43 million times online and 95 percent viewings happened after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, he spoke at the Time100 Gala Summit that if in future a similar pandemic breaks out with a much higher death rate per case, 5 percent for example, that could be "society ending". In comparison, the death rate of COVID-19 was 0.2 percent.
He also predicted that in the next 20 years, the odds of another pandemic is an even 50-50, which could be much worse than COVID-19.
However, people can learn a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates writes in his new book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. Now a Chinese translation is coming out.
Before people shift their attention to other things, plans should be made and financially supported, he says in the book.
He suggests that scientists, data analysts and policy experts across the world work together as a team to prepare for quick response at the future outbreaks of pandemics in different countries and regions.
Moreover, research and development should be further strengthened to secure that lifesaving tools, effective vaccines of long-term protection for example, effective treatments and highly sensitive diagnostic techniques can benefit all people at a faster speed. It requires not only investment but also bigger production capacity so that when the next crisis arrives, people can be ready.
Lastly, people need to improve health system and early warning system, especially in low-and-middle-income countries. Routine immunization should be improved. With early warning system and tracing any outbreak of infectious diseases, people can sequence the genes of pathogens as soon as possible to tell how to handle them before they spread.
