Who are the female world leaders who have managed to control COVID19?

The conclusions show that several countries have made significant progress and a common feature despite the low percentage of women leading the more than 190 countries in the world, is that they have generated significant contributions. Cases such as Taiwan, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, Norway are some of the world benchmarks.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardner is one of the leaders recognized for the effectiveness of her results in the fight against COVID-19, her country after being declared free of the virus on June 8, records two new cases that lead them to reassess compassionate exemptions and not rule out new infections. Premier Ardner assures that the "elimination of the virus in the country is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort", but it is clear that its success is recognized globally.

The archipelago of the South Pacific, with a population of five million, registered 1,156 confirmed cases and 22 deaths, today they are at alert level 1 and will maintain border restrictions, but the country has returned to normal as reported in a press release.

The strategy to fight the virus focused on a prolonged quarantine for anyone who entered the country since mid-March when only 6 infections had been registered, according to local media. Quick measures, her constant communication with the population in an informative and educational process through social networks allowed her to declare her country free of the disease in three months.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is another world leader. The president made decisions to prevent the spread of the virus in her country days before China communicated the presence of the virus to the World Health Organization. Without contagion until then and just for the Chinese New Year, the leader of Taiwan ordered the testing of 26 pathogens to all travelers who step on the Taoyuan International Airport.

On January 20 the schools closed and on March 14 a quarantine was established for travelers arriving from abroad. The country never entered into a total confinement that would significantly affect the economy and the balance of infections today is 445 people and 7 deaths.

In Iceland, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, as stated by La Vanguardia.com "has opted for a unique strategy in the world: to offer access to free tests to all citizens of this small country of just over 360,000 inhabitants." She also quickly put in place a monitoring and isolation system for all those who might have been in contact with the virus. This allowed strict confinement to be avoided, schools and nurseries were never closed and a total of 53,000 tests were carried out. The coronavirus has claimed the lives of ten people and 1,812 citizens of Iceland have been infected.

Social networks, allies for world leaders

In Finland, Sanna Marin has relied on social media to educate and inform her country. Currently there have been more than seven thousand infected and 322 deaths.

Isolations, school closings, borders and confinement are common strategies, but the use of the internet with educational messages delivered by influencers on social networks are part of government strategies to flatten the curve and reach differently to the youngest, its approval it is 85% compared to its management.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Norway's Erna Solberg have held press conferences exclusively for children and have used the internet and networks to generate information. In Norway there are more than 8,000 infected and 243 deaths to date.

Also read: Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic through testing

Foresight and speed have been the keys to success in countries that have been overcoming the pandemic. The early closure of borders, strict confinement and an extensive testing campaign as well as a call to citizenship by the media in which citizens are most active, such as social networks, have become innovative strategies against a virus that no one knew and that today the world has the edge.

Although the leadership and effectiveness of the fight against the pandemic should not be an issue attributed to gender, Elisabeth Kelan, Director of the Cranfield International Center for Women Leaders of the Essex Business School, told the newspaper La Vanguardia de España . The reality is more complex: "there is no single form of female leadership," and explains that "from a scientific point of view, it is difficult to argue that women respond better to crises."

For its part, UN women highlights the work of world leaders in the fight against COVID-19 and in an article dedicated to Vjosa Osmani, the first woman president of the assembly in Kosovo, who has been praised for her professionalism in leading the Assembly during the crisis, the UN states that, “Women shine through such outstanding leaders as the COVID-19 pandemic increases from Germany to New Zealand and from Denmark to Iceland, they have shown clarity in their decisions and policies They are compassionate, empathetic and strong communicators and show solidarity in the face of the crisis the world is currently experiencing. ”