By Kazeem Bisiriyu
The founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, has said that it is most likely that the weather condition in Nigeria and India may be restricting the covid-19 spread in the countries.
“So far, developing countries like India and Nigeria account for a small portion of the reported global infections.
“With luck, some factors that we don’t understand yet, like how weather might affect the virus’s spread, will prevent large-scale infection in these countries, ” he said in his latest article tagged ‘Innovation Vs. The Coronavirus’.
Gates, however, noted that although countries like Nigeria has a large young population, economic hardship among others poses a great threat to people’s life.
“Even though their populations are disproportionately young—which would tend to mean fewer deaths from COVID-19—this advantage is almost certainly offset by the fact that many low-income people’s immune systems are weakened by conditions like malnutrition or HIV.
“And the less developed a country’s economy is, the harder it is to make the behavior changes that reduce the virus’s reproduction rate,” he said.
He further predicted a wide spread of the Coronavirus in developing countries, citing their poor health facilities.
He also stated that residential areas that are overcrowded is symbolic of developing countries and it could enable covid-19 spread.
“If you live in an urban slum and do informal work to earn enough to feed your family every day, you won’t find it easy to avoid contact with other people.
“Also, the health systems in these countries have far less capacity, so even providing oxygen treatment to everyone who needs it will be difficult.
“Tragically, it is possible that the total deaths in developing countries will be far higher than in developed countries, ” he stated in the article of Thursday.
He also stated that his foundation would continue to do its best in supporting relevant agencies in fighting the pandemic.
