COVID-19: Melinda Gates' prediction could come to pass as new study says over 190,000 people could die in a year

Covid-19 victim taken for burial/The Independent

No, it's not another Bill or Melinda Gates prediction. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns warns that as many as 190,000 people across Africa could die in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic if crucial containment measures fail, according to a report by the BBC.

Similar predictions were made by co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mrs Melinda Gates in an interview with CNN, on the novel coronavirus and its effects in the third world countries. Mrs Gates in the interview, said her heart is in Africa, and based on her experiences across developing countries especially Africa, 'its going to be horrible'.


“Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad, is because they don’t have access to many tests.

“Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa,” Mrs Gates noted.

According to Mrs Gates, her worst nightmare was when she “saw what China had to do to isolate enormous part of its population. My first thought was Africa. How in the world are they going to deal with this.”



“I have been in townships all over Africa and slums. When we talk in country physical distancing and hand-washing, if you live in slums who can’t physical distance, you have to go out and get your meals. You don’t have clean water to wash your hands,” she added.

But WHO's warning comes as Nigeria, plus others including South Africa and Ivory Coast, have begun relaxing some of their lockdown measures. This according to WHO, will result in prolonged outbreak over a few years.


WHO predicts based on its recent study, that between 29 million and 44 million people in the WHO African region could get infected in the first year of the pandemic. Between 83,000 and 190,000 could die in the same period, it warns.

The estimates are based on prediction modelling, and focus on 47 countries in the WHO African region with a combined population of one billion - Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti are not included.