Bill Gates commits to focus solely on coronavirus

<p>Billionaire Bill Gates says his foundation will focus all of its resources on fighting the coronavirus, according to the Financial Times.</p><p>The philanthropist and founder of Microsoft who has been doing interviews with several media outlets, said that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation it will give "total attention" to the pandemic.</p><p>"You're going to have economies with greatly reduced activity levels for years," Gates said. The pandemic could cost the global economy "tens of trillions of dollars," he said in the interview.</p><p>Speaking to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Sunday, Gates pushed back against allegations that China covered up the new pathogen when it emerged in Wuhan in December.</p><p>“That’s a distraction,” Gates said. “I think there are a lot of incorrect and unfair things said.”</p><p>Gates also defended the World Health Organization against accusations from President Donald Trump that the organization mishandled the virus response.</p><p>“WHO is clearly very, very important and should actually get extra support to perform their role during this epidemic,” Gates said. He said he doesn’t believe Trump will follow through on his threat to withdraw funding for the WHO.</p><p>Gates has said that the U.S. can't begin to open without some innovative new tools that help detect, treat and prevent covid-19.</p><p>His comments come as several states prepare to ease social distancing and stay-at-home restrictions this week, despite warnings from health researchers that no state should reopen before May 1.</p><p>Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases across the U.S. surpassed one million on Monday and the death toll has now increased to more than 56,000.</p>