Philanthropist and billionaire Bill Gates has warned that America needed six to 10 weeks of extreme shutdown of regular life to get a handle on the new coronavirus outbreak.

The Microsoft co-founder said this in an interview with TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design).

He said it was very irresponsible for somebody to suggest we could have the best of both worlds.

Bill Gates said, if things went well, then you could start opening back up.

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Gates noted that while isolation in populated areas along with widespread testing was difficult and disastrous for the economy, the sooner you do it in a tough way, the sooner you can undo it.

‘US, China working together to curb coronavirus pandemic’

US President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States and China were working closely together to curb coronavirus pandemic.

In a tweet, President Trump said that he held a very good telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“We discussed in great detail the Coronavirus that is ravaging large parts of our planet. China has developed a strong understanding of the Virus as it has gone through much in dealing with the pandemic,” he said.