Countries that shut down for coronavirus could bounce back within 6-10 weeks, Microsoft founder Bill Gates say

Last week, we published a story after Gates Foundation joined forces with Wellcome Trust and Mastercard  to launch a $125 million Therapeutics Accelerator to combat coronavirus (COVID19) epidemic. Today, during the “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was asked how long the coronavirus pandemic will last. Gates responded, “If a country does a good job with testing and ‘shut down’ then within 6-10 weeks they should see very few cases and be able to open back up.”

In post on Twitter, Gates said: “I’m answering your questions about the #COVID19 coronavirus on @reddit  in 10 minutes: https://b-gat.es/2xJYgp3″

I’m answering your questions about the #COVID19 coronavirus on @reddit in 10 minutes: https://t.co/JXEYRCpCza pic.twitter.com/ESyUqomdSD

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) March 18, 2020

Known for his philanthropic work, Gates appearance on Reddit comes just a week after Gates announced that he was stepping down from Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway Boards to focus more time on philanthropic priorities. In a LinkedIn post titled Focusing My Time, Gates said he has made a decision to step down to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change.

On Reddit, Gates further explained why the shutdown is an important measure to containing and mitigating the spread of the deadly coronavirus. “The current phase has a lot of the cases in rich countries. With the right actions including the testing and social distancing (which I call ‘shut down’) within 2-3 months the rich countries should have avoided high levels of infection,” Gates wrote. “I worry about all the economic damage but even worse will be how this will affect the developing countries who cannot do the social distancing the same way as rich countries and whose hospital capacity is much lower.”