The design is based on a famous picture published by the Times of Malta that was widely shared. It depicts two senior staff nurses Doreen Zammit and Charmaine Cauchi, whose identities had never been disclosed as they were hidden from head to toe behind their PPE, locked in a supportive embrace, eyes shut tight, before treating coronavirus patients at Mater Dei Hospital.

The photograph, taken by nurse Diane Faenza, captured the climate of stress, fear and courage among healthcare workers at the time. The image was chosen by the Europe branch of the World Health Organisation to mark the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, after it was spotted on the newspaper’s social media and permission for its use was requested.

Designer: Maria Anna Frisone

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted