Gates Foundation donates another $150 million to pandemic fight

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a further $150-million commitment to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“The world community must understand that so long as COVID-19 is somewhere, we need to act as if it were everywhere," Bill Gates, the foundation's co-chair and founder of Microsoft said. "Beating this pandemic will require an unprecedented level of international funding and cooperation.”, Deutsche press agency (DPA) reported.

With Wednesday's announcement, the foundation has now given $ 250 million to fight the virus and COVID-19, the respiratory disease it causes.

The donation comes just a day after US President Donald Trump said he would halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), a move that was harshly criticized in the international community.

The Gates' foundation is among the biggest private donors to the WHO.

The new funds will go toward the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, and support efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries.

The foundation plans to partner with an organization in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to increase its COVID-19 detection capabilities along with treatment and isolation efforts.

Non-medical funding will also go towards supporting people in extreme poverty who are impacted by the economic fallout of the virus.