Bill Gates tweets 'We could be entering worst part of pandemic'
"Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve canceled most of my holiday plans," Gates tweeted
In a series of tweets, philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates expressed his worries saying the world "could be entering the worst part of the pandemic" and that he has canceled his holiday plans.
Noting that his close friends have increasingly been getting infected, Bill Gates' tweets emphasised the danger of the Omicron variant, particularly in relation to its reinfection rate, as well as the frighteningly little knowledge we collectively possess about the strain, reports NDTV.
"Omicron is spreading faster than any virus in history. It will soon be in every country in the world," tweeted Mr Gates.
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"The big unknown is how sick omicron makes you...Even if it's only half as severe as delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it's so infectious," he added in a subsequent tweet.
His warnings come at a time when the US is witnessing an astronomical surge in the Omicron variant, with Omicron infections jumping from 3 per cent to 73 per cent of all US Covid cases in the space of a single week.
Stressing just how vital Covid precautions are at this time, Gates implored a firm return to "wearing masks, avoiding big indoor gatherings, and getting vaccinated".
"Getting a booster gives the best protection," noted one of his tweets.
Finally, Mr Gates attempted to end his awareness thread on a positive note. "If there's good news here, it's that omicron moves so quickly that once it becomes dominant in a country, the wave there should last less than 3 months," said the Microsoft co-founder.
"It won't be like this forever. Someday the pandemic will end, and the better we look after each other, the sooner that time will come."
