BILL Gates "predicted" a super-virus pandemic breaking out in China that could kill 33 million people around the world in the first six months.

The Microsoft tycoon warned the world was at risk from super-pathogens spreading quickly across our planet — and that we should prepare for this as we would for war.

7 Bill Gates warned a conference hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society that a pandemic was likely soon Credit: Getty - Contributor

7 A pandemic was simulated that showed how quick a disease could spread

7 The pretend disease broke out in China

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society, Gates said he was an optimist but there was one area the world was not "making much progress".

He said: "And that’s pandemic preparedness.

"In the case of biological threats, that sense of urgency is lacking.

"The world needs to prepare for pandemics in the same serious way it prepares for war."

During the conference the billionaire philanthropist unveiled an exhaustive study by the Institute for Disease Modelling which laid bare just how quickly a new disease could spread.

A time lapse video explained how a potential outbreak in China could then rapidly spread across the planet, eventually killing 33 million people.

PREDICTION COME TRUE?

Now one year on, after emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the world is faced with the all too real deadly coronavirus.

It has continued its relentless global march, with the number of nations affected almost doubling overnight.

Confirmed cases have skyrocketed to more than 800 in China alone, officials said.

Vietnam, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong all now have confirmed cases — alongside the US, China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

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But the World Health Organisation last night refused to declare a global public health emergency, saying it was “too early”.

However, officials admitted the committee was split almost 50-50.

Four major Chinese cities are in lockdown with 20million people in quarantine, with evidence of human to human transmission.

Officials have restricted travel in virus epicentre Wuhan, which is home to 11million, as well as neighbouring Huanggang, Ezhou and Lichuan.

Preliminary research suggested the coronavirus was passed on to humans from snakes at Wuhan’s seafood market.

Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, said almost three-quarters of confirmed cases were in people aged over 40, with four in ten having underlying health conditions.

Experts have warned it may prove as deadly as the Spanish flu, which claimed 50million lives.

There are fears that it could accelerate further with millions travelling Chinese New Year celebrations tomorrow.

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7 Health warnings have been posted around the UK's airports Credit: Simon Jones - The Sun

7 There was a police presence outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where it is understood at least one person is being treated in isolation Credit: SWNS:South West News Service