Bill Gates predicts world will be ‘completely back to normal’ by 2022

Philanthropist says people can look forward to resumption of freedoms ‘in a significant way’ this summer

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said the pandemic was an “incredible tragedy" (REUTERS)

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has predicted the world will be back to normal by the end of 2022 because of Covid-19 vaccines.

The billionaire described the pandemic as an “incredible tragedy” and added that the only good news has been the access to jabs.

“By the end of 2022 we should be basically completely back to normal,” Mr Gates said, in an interview for Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and television broadcaster TVN24.

His most recent comments come just weeks after Mr Gates said in an interview on social media app Clubhouse that he thought people could look at changing their behaviour “in a significant way” in the spring or summer of this year.

Mr Gates, who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft Corp in 2014, has through his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation committed at least $1.75bn (£1.3bn) to the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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More than $250m (£183m) has been committed to the continued development of new vaccines and $156m (£114m( to the Covax scheme, which has been set up to ensure that lower income countries receive affordable jabs.

Funds have also been committed to diagnostics and other further potential treatments for Covid-19 by the foundation.

The Covax facility, backed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), aims to secure two billion vaccine doses for lower income countries by the end of 2021. 

Mr Gates has been the subject of a number of bizarre conspiracy theories surrounding the pandemic, including claims that coronavirus is a cover so he can plant microchips in people to control them.

He is also well known for his passionate advocacy for tackling the climate change crisis, which he recently told the BBC would be “the most amazing thing humanity has ever done” if successful.

Additional reporting by Reuters