Bill Gates: most U.S. COVID-19 tests ‘complete waste’

Most COVID-19 tests performed in the U.S. are useless because of the time it takes to produce results, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said.

Tests that take more than 48 hours to produce results are "insane," he told CNBC.

"That test is a complete waste [of money and time]. And to all these numbers about how much we test, the majority is just complete waste," he said.

According to CNBC, due to high load, U.S. laboratories provide COVID-19 test results in several days, a week or even more.

"Right now, this thing where you wait more than three days, sometimes seven days to get a test, nobody should pay $1 for that. That’s insane," Gates noted.

He explained that, with such long testing time, people fail to take necessary safety measures on time and continue to spread the infection.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda head a charity foundation that operates approximately $50 billion. The foundation prioritizes fighting dangerous diseases in developing countries, as well as problems of healthcare and education in the US. Currently, the foundation allocated $300 million for development of the coronavirus vaccine and for support of the poor, who are most vulnerable amid the pandemic.