Bill Gates says US needs to speed up COVID-19 tests as death toll crosses 6,000

Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, emphasised the need for stepping up the test for COVID-19 as the United States has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases across the world. Gates said that the decline in the number of coronavirus cases could take 10 weeks or more, adding that the shutdown can not be relaxed until then.

The 64-year-old American business magnate said that far more tests should be made available and results should be aggregated to quickly identify potential volunteers for clinical trials. He also applauded healthcare workers for battling the pandemic from the frontline.

Three-step plan

Earlier, Gates had suggested a three-pronged approach to contain the spread of novel coronavirus which has claimed over 4,000 lives in the United States alone. In The Washington Post Op-Ed, Gates laid out the three-step plan to beat the virus saying the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the threat but there is still a “window for making important decisions”.

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Gates advocated for a methodical and streamlined test approach where priorities should be set. He said that people in essential roles such as health care workers and first responders should be given priority for COVID-19 tests followed by highly symptomatic people. He added that such prioritisation will also help in creating a roadmap for containment.

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The third and the last step suggested by the American business magnate is to abide by the procedure for vaccine development. Gates said that government officials should only inform the public about the vaccine after getting the results through rapid trials and not stoke rumours and hype around it. He argued that such informal announcements regarding a potential drug could lead to panic buying and hoarding without knowing its effectiveness.

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(Image credit: AP)