The women leading the fight against coronavirus
From stoic leadership to cutting edge research, these women are leading the charge in curbing the COVID-19 pandemic.
No nonsense — Angela Merkel
Germany has made headlines around the world for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and relatively low mortality rate. The chancellor has been hailed for her straight talk, warning that 60% of people will contract the virus. Merkel broke down how coronavirus measures should be followed to overcome the "greatest challenge" Germany has faced since World War II.
Developing vaccines — Marylyn Addo
The virologist and leading professor at the German Center for Infection Research and the head of infections at the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf is working together with her team to develop a coronavirus vaccine. She has already developed vaccines against the Ebola virus and the MERS coronavirus.
Preventative measures — Jacinda Ardern
Under Ardern, New Zealand deployed widespread testing and set out some of the toughest border restrictions in the world to prevent an outbreak. On March 14, Ardern announced anyone entering the country would need to self-isolate for two weeks. At the time, New Zealand had six cases. She then banned all visitors from entering and announced a lockdown at 102 confirmed cases and zero deaths.
Nationwide coronavirus testing — Jung Eun-kyeong
The director of South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been hailed as a "national hero," with local media reports saying she rarely slept and refused to leave the office in the name of fighting the outbreak. Jung helped steer the way for deploying mass nationwide coronavirus testing.
Paving the way for the EU — Mette Frederiksen
Under Frederiksen's leadership, Denmark was one of the first countries in Europe to respond to the spread of the coronavirus, implementing strict measures in the first half of March. Among a number of actions taken, the country shut down its borders to all visitors without a valid entry visa on March 14.
Quick action — Tsai Ing-wen
Despite the island nation's close proximity to the epicenter of the virus, Taiwan managed to avoid a health crisis. Defying experts' predictions that Taiwan would have one of the highest infection rates, Tsai's government took early action to prevent further outbreak and introduced a travel ban on visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macau soon after the number of cases began to rise in China.