Developments regarding the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) I would like to begin my speech by talking about developments regarding COVID-19. The outbreak of COVID-19 was first identified in China in January 2020, spreading to Europe from late February, and ultimately worldwide. The number of confirmed new cases continued to increase with large fluctuations across countries and regions.
Since the beginning of 2021, however, developments in such figures appear to have become somewhat polarized.