Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends, Ten days ago, President von der Leyen, President Macron, Melinda Gates and I launched the ACT Accelerator, a call to action to work together in an unprecedented way to tackle this unprecedented crisis.
I thank President von der Leyen for her leadership in hosting this event and for this incredible demonstration of global solidarity.
The world is facing an unprecedented public health crisis. But we are better positioned than any humans in history to confront it.
Within two weeks of the first cases being reported to WHO, the world knew the genetic sequence of this virus. The first diagnostics followed within days.