Bill Gates Predicts When Covid-19 Can Be Treated Like The 'Seasonal Flu'

Bill Gates believes we'll soon get to treat coronavirus like the seasonal flu.

The world has undoubtably been massively altered over the past two years by lockdowns, mask mandates, rules around seeing one another and where we can go.

Many are worried that the pandemic will continue to linger for months or even years because of new variants that could be deadlier or more transmissible than the last.

It's certainly happened before with the Delta mutation and now Omicron has seen a brand new wave of infections across the world.

But it looks like there could be a light at the end of the tunnel, according to the Microsoft co-founder.

During a Twitter Q&A with University of Edinburgh chair of global public health Devi Sridhar, Bill Gates said: "Once Omicron goes through a country, then the rest of the year should see far fewer cases.

"So COVID can be treated more like seasonal flu."

Omicron is certainly ripping through countries all over the world.

It's caused some nations to reintroduce lockdowns and mask wearing while indoors, while hospitals across the globe are seeing a dramatic spike in admissions.

In Australia, the Omicron wave continues to see some states record tens of thousands of cases every single day.

One epidemiologist believes New South Wales, who recorded more than 92,000 infections yesterday (January 13), could have reached its peak already.

University of Melbourne's Professor Tony Blakely told Sunrise: "NSW, I think, is at the peak and starting to come down or about to, Victoria is about to get to the peak, ACT is about to get to the peak.

"Then you have got Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland all coming up there in third place if you like. They will peak in about a week to two weeks time.

"All of these peaks I'm talking about are infections and then two weeks later you get the peak in hospitalisations.

"In NSW we are expecting to see the hospitalisations peak at about the 20th to 25th of January and it will unfortunately peak high because measures were not put in place early enough in NSW."

The Wall Street Journal reported that the UK might also be close to hitting its peak in the Omicron wave.

Of course, Bill Gates' prediction all hangs on the presumption that another variant isn't discovered in the next few months that pales in comparison to Omicron or Delta.

Looks like we'll just have to cross our fingers and toes.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: News, Coronavirus

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie