Gates warns US may be entering worst part of pandemic as daily COVID-19 deaths scale 1,000

Microsoft co-founder expects this wave to last three months

Last week US averaged above 148,000 new cases daily

Bill Gates says the United States could be entering “the worst part of the pandemic” and he may cancel most of his holiday plans.

In a series of tweets, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft said the Omicron variant is spreading faster than any virus in history, according to a CNN report. He said the big unknown was how sick the Omicron variant can make people.

Read More: Omicron is now prevalent coronavirus strain in US, accounting for 73% of cases

"We need to take it seriously until we know more about it. 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," Gates tweeted.

End of pandemic?

The philanthropist expects the wave to last three months in the United States. "Those few months could be bad, but I still believe if we take the right steps, the pandemic can be over in 2022," Gates said.

In a surge in Covid-19 cases in the United States, the daily new cases averaged more than 148,000 last week, about 23% higher than a week ago. Johns Hopkins University data showed the country was slipping into the situation it last saw in mid-September.

Also Read: US sports pro leagues change game plans as Omicron touches base

Health and Human Services Department data revealed over 69,700 COVID-19 patients were in US hospitals on Wednesday. The number has been trending up after it reached around 45,000 on November 8.

The country touched an average of 1,324 COVID-19 deaths a day last week, which was 11% more than a week earlier, Johns Hopkins data show.

Increasing vaccine gap

Bill Gates has been involved in trying to close the vaccination gap through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation noting that far fewer people in low-income countries have received a preventive jab. His article in CNN opinion in October said that the gap will get harder to close because the world's richer governments are buying up extra doses to serve as booster shots.

Photo Credit: GateNotes