2月24日晚，中國-世界衛生組織新冠肺炎聯合專家考察組在北京舉行新聞發布會。聯合專家考察組外方組長、世界衛生組織總幹事高級顧問布魯斯·艾爾沃德(Bruce Aylward)有一段4分半鐘的陳述，在現場引起一陣掌聲。
布魯斯·艾爾沃德說：「我們要認識到武漢人民所做的貢獻，世界欠你們一份情。當這場疫情過去，希望有機會代表世界再一次感謝武漢人民。」
現場的翻譯在翻譯這段話時幾度哽咽。
艾爾沃德的發言摘譯如下：
Twenty-five years ago, I visited Wuhan to assess the capacity to eradicate, it was at that time another virus, a dangerous virus.
25年前，我曾經到過武漢，評估當地消除另外一種危險病毒的能力。
The Wuhan I found was a fair bit smaller than today, but it was a bustling, energetic, lively place filled with wonderful people with a great spirit as it went about trying to eradicate the disease I was working on at the time.那時的武漢也許比現在小很多，但車水馬龍，熙熙攘攘，是一個充滿活力的地方。人們鬥志昂揚地忙著根除我當時所研究的那種疾病。
But when Doctor Liang and I arrived in Wuhan two nights ago, it was a very different place. The city of skyscrapers, giant auto routes and a gorgeous hypermodern train station was silent. It was a ghost town.但兩個晚上前，我和梁教授到達武漢的時候，這裡已經變得完全不一樣。這座有著許多高樓大廈、寬敞的高速公路、現代化的火車站的城市，變得沉寂，仿佛是一座空城。
And behind every window of these skyscrapers we drove past, there were people. There were 15 million people who were staying put in one place for weeks at a time to stop this disease.我們途經一座座高樓大廈，窗戶後面，有1500萬武漢人，他們幾個星期都待在屋裡，這一切只是為了阻止病毒的傳播。
And if we spoke with people we were working with in Wuhan, they said, 「This is our duty. We have to protect the world from this disease. This is our role. We are playing our role.」當我們與共事的武漢人說起這件事時，他們告訴我們，「這是我們的責任，我們必須保護世界不被這個疾病侵害，這是我們的責任，我們正在做自己應當做的」。
And I just thought it's so important that we recognize that to the people of Wuhan, it is recognized, the world is in your debt. And when this disease finishes, hopefully, we will have a chance to thank the people in Wuhan for the role that they played in it, because many of us, many of the people here have suffered but the people of that city have gone through an extraordinary period.我想這一點很重要，我們必須認識到，對武漢人民而言，世界欠你們一份情。當疫情結束時，希望我們有機會能夠感謝武漢人民，為他們的付出和行動，這裡的很多人都經受了苦難，但那座城市的人民所經歷的是異常的磨難。