At a press conference on 11 March 2020, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Danish Prime Minister’s Office, journalists are placed on every other chair as a visual echo of the virus spreading as a wildfire. The atmosphere is solemn and nervous as the prime minister enters the room and opens the meeting. The air feels heavy and thick, even for those of us watching the press conference live from our living rooms. Denmark is shutting down to contain the spread of COVID-19. The number of people infected with the virus has increased more than tenfold in just three days.

As the Danish prime minister talks us through the details and the carefully curated information on how to respond to the virus, she also states something quite unusual and unprecedented in the realm of political leadership:

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, was not the only political leader to acknowledge the uncertainty and the need for swift action. In our interpretation this signalled a political resolve, a willingness to experiment, to learn and to adapt as our society’s understanding of the accumulating crisis deepened. All over the world, political leaders came forward.