Bill Gates says his foundation is giving 'total attention' to battling the coronavirus pandemic

• Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday that his foundation is devoting "total attention" to battling the coronavirus pandemic.
• To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has an endowment of $46.8 billion, has already pledged over $250 million to coronavirus research and response.
• Gates has been warning about the risk of a pandemic disease for years and has stated that a global health crisis like coronavirus could wipe out 30 million people in less than a year.
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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that his philanthropic foundation would bring its "total attention" to battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The 67-year-old billionaire, who has been a vocal advocate of coronavirus preparedness and research, spoke about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shifting its priorities in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday.

"This has the foundation's total attention," he told FT. "Even our non-health related work, like higher education and K-12 [schools], is completely switched around to look at how you facilitate online learning."

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told The Verge that the foundation "remains committed to its core areas of focus including reducing infectious disease, eliminating extreme poverty, and improving US public education."

"The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all areas of our work and the ripple effects will be felt for years to come," the foundation added.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of $46.8 billion.

Gates has been warning about the risk of a pandemic disease for years, stating that a global health crisis like coronavirus could wipe out 30 million people in less than a year. He told the Financial Times earlier this month that COVID-19 was the "biggest event that people will experience in their entire lives" and that people are now realizing that a viral outbreak similar to COVID-19 will likely happen "every 20 years or so."

His foundation, which has committed billions of dollars to the research of other infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, has already pledged over $250 million ins response to COVID-19. According to the foundation, the funds are being used to help poor communities prepare for the virus and is helping accelerate the detection and containment of the virus.