The Lancet DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30101-8 WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The pandemic eventually reached Yemen, with the first laboratory confirmed case announced on April 10. emen has structural vulnerabilities that have developed over a protracted period of conflict and poor governance, and its health system has suffered the most. To prevent a total collapse of Yemen’s fragile health system, the government and the international community should act now more decisively.