In late 2019, researchers in China identified a novel, or new, form of a type of pathogen called a coronavirus. As of January 2020, thousands of people in China had contracted a respiratory disease, a form of pneumonia, that came to be called COVID-19, for corona virus disease 2019. Many of them died. The disease spread rapidly, and in the weeks and months that followed, it had jumped borders and was affecting the people of virtually every country in the world. As of late summer 2023, the World Health Organization had reported a cumulative number of worldwide cases totaling nearly 770 million, with 7 million deaths. Health officials scrambled to find ways to combat the virus. In the United States and elsewhere, “social distancing” (staying several feet away from others in stores, for example), “mask mandates” (the requirement for people to wear masks over their mouths and nose in public), the closure of business enterprises, schools, and churches, the cancellation of public events, athletic contests held in otherwise empty arenas, daily news updates on cases and deaths, vaccine passports and vaccine mandates, and other measures all became part of public discussion. Governments and pharmaceutical companies marshaled resources to research the development of effective vaccines. For a period ranging from a few months in some regions to a year or two in others, many offices, theaters, restaurants, stores, and school buildings were partially or fully closed to protect workers, customers, and students as the virus and its variants spread, while those deemed essential workers, such as health care and food service workers, risked their health and even lives to perform their duties. In this speech, the secretary-general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announces the emergence of the virus in China and goes to great lengths to praise Chinese officials for their efforts in containing the virus.