Bill Gates pledges up to $100mn to combat coronavirus in South Asia, Africa

• He also called on developed countries to help less wealthy nations prepare for the coronavirus.
• As of Friday, there have been 4,351 cases and 67 deaths outside China.

Pledging that his foundation will donate up to $100 million to poor countries in Africa and South Asia, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also urged developed countries to help less wealthy nations prepare and fight the coronavirus.

In an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gates raises alarm over the deadly coronavirus that has started to 'behave a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.' He wrote that there are two reasons why we should feel threatened by the virus.

"First, it can kill healthy adults in addition to elderly people with existing health problems. Second, the virus is transmitted quite efficiently. The average infected person spreads the disease to two or three others," he writes.

Elaborating, Gates said that the novel virus can even spread to people who are just mildly ill or not even showing symptoms yet, adding that this means the virus will be much harder to contain than Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

However, he wrote, the spread of the virus can be slowed if national, state, local governments and public health agencies take certain steps. "By helping countries in Africa and South Asia get ready now, we can save lives and also slow the global circulation of the virus," he said.

He said these governments can help low and middle-income countries strengthen their primary health care systems. The health systems in many of these countries are already stretched thin and a pathogen like coronavirus can quickly overwhelm them, he wrote.

As of Friday, there have been 4,351 cases and 67 deaths outside China.