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In late December of 2019, in Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, in Wuhan, China, the first accounts of symptoms of what we now know as coronavirus, or COVID-19, were registered, as 66% of the staff had been infected with this new virus (Wu et al. 2020, 217). The virus quickly spread around the world and soon after the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic (Cucinotta and Vanelli 2020).
By observing four different countries as case studies (the United States, Sweden, China and South Korea), the aim of this thesis is to explore the success that different approaches were met with when dealing with the pandemic.
After conducting a thorough literature review that provides detailed context on how the pandemic affected each selected country, this study undergoes a comparative analysis in order to compare the different responses when it comes to their efficacy in dealing with COVID-19.
The findings suggest that based on all indicators used to measure the success of said responses, China and South Korea have adopted more adequate responses for dealing with the pandemic than the US and Sweden.

Table of Contents

1.	INTRODUCTION	6
2.	LITERATURE REVIEW	7
2.1.	HOW IT ALL STARTED: THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC	7
2.2.	UNITED STATES	8
2.3.	SWEDEN	16
2.4.	CHINA	24
2.5.	SOUTH KOREA	31
3.	METHODOLOGY	37
3.1.	CHOSEN METHOD AND APPROACH	37
3.2.	GATEKEEPING CRITERIA	37
3.3.	CHOICE OF COUNTRIES	38
3.4.	INDICATORS	39
3.5.	INDICATORS THAT WILL NOT BE USED	41
3.6.	HYPOTHESES	42
3.7.	LIMITATIONS	43
4.	FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION	45
4.1.	DEATH RATES	45
4.2.	INFECTION RATES	47
4.3.	VACCINATION RATES	49
4.4.	GDP ANNUAL GROWTH RATE	50
4.5.	SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH	55
5.	CONCLUSION	56
6.	BIBLIOGRAPHY	57