Skip to main content

Bill Gates wonders why number of COVID-19 cases, deaths are not high in Africa

 



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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nnamdi Kanu Sends Important Message To IPOB Members From Detention

    The detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has sent an important message to his followers over the Biafra movement. The embattled separatist according to one of his brothers, Prince Kanu Meme, has asked his disciples to trust and comply with directives from the Directorate of State (DOS). Boasting his belief in the separatist movement’s administrative structure, Kanu said “I’m DOS and DOS is me”.  Naija News understands that the DOS, headed by diaspora-based Chika Edoziem has been contending with authority issues since Kanu’s arrest in Kenya in June 2021. It has been observed that IPOB is in disintegration following Nnamdi Kanu’s rearrest and detention. The present situation of the Biafran movement can be likened to that of sheep without a shepherd. However, Kanu in a conversation with his sib...

IPOB: The Nigerian Civil War, commonly known as the Biafran War

  THE HISTORY OF BIAFRA AND NIGERIA WAR  Israel, Nigeria and the Biafra civil war    The Nigerian Civil War , commonly known as the Biafran War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), was a war fought between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta played a vital strategic role. Within a year, the Federal Government troops surrounded Biafra, capturing coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. The blockade imp...

Judge transfers Nnamdi Kanu’s motion to CJ for reassignment

Judge transfers Nnamdi Kanu’s motion to CJ   on   September 15, 2025 By   Matthew Atungwu   Justice   Musa Liman of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, sent back to the Chief Judge, CJ, a motion filed by Nnamdi Kanu,  leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, for reassignment.      Make money online with cheelee Kanu, in the motion ex-parte, is seeking an order of the court transferring him to Abuja National Hospital for urgent medical attention. Justice Liman, in a short ruling, made the order transferring the case file back to the CJ, following an application by Kanu’s counsel, Uchenna Njoku, SAN, considering the fact that the annual vacation of the court would be ending The Department of State Services (DSS) lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, did not oppose Uchenna’s application. Earlier, upon resumed hearing in the case, the judge hinted that there was no time anymore for the vacation court to decide Ka...