Elsevier established a free COVID-19 resource center in January 2020, offering information in English and Mandarin. The center is hosted on Elsevier Connect, and the company grants permission for free access to its research in PubMed Central and other repositories. The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global financial markets, focusing on country-specific and systemic risks. It analyzes the effects of policy interventions, such as the US's zero-interest rate and quantitative easing (QE) policies. The pandemic caused significant economic disruptions, leading to sharp declines in stock markets worldwide. The US stock market hit the circuit breaker mechanism four times in ten days in March 2020, a rare event. The S&P 500 fell over 30% in one month. The pandemic's spread led to increased volatility and systemic risk in financial markets. Data analysis shows that stock market volatility rose sharply, with the US experiencing the highest increase. Correlation analysis reveals that markets became more interconnected after the WHO declared a global pandemic. The minimum spanning tree analysis shows that European markets remained highly connected, while Asian markets became more integrated after the announcement. Policy responses, including QE, aimed to stabilize markets but introduced uncertainty. The US's policies may have created long-term problems, especially for emerging economies. The paper concludes that the pandemic has significantly increased global financial market risks, with individual markets reacting to the severity of the outbreak in their countries. Non-conventional policies and lack of global cooperation have exacerbated uncertainty and potential long-term issues.Elsevier established a free COVID-19 resource center in January 2020, offering information in English and Mandarin. The center is hosted on Elsevier Connect, and the company grants permission for free access to its research in PubMed Central and other repositories. The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global financial markets, focusing on country-specific and systemic risks. It analyzes the effects of policy interventions, such as the US's zero-interest rate and quantitative easing (QE) policies. The pandemic caused significant economic disruptions, leading to sharp declines in stock markets worldwide. The US stock market hit the circuit breaker mechanism four times in ten days in March 2020, a rare event. The S&P 500 fell over 30% in one month. The pandemic's spread led to increased volatility and systemic risk in financial markets. Data analysis shows that stock market volatility rose sharply, with the US experiencing the highest increase. Correlation analysis reveals that markets became more interconnected after the WHO declared a global pandemic. The minimum spanning tree analysis shows that European markets remained highly connected, while Asian markets became more integrated after the announcement. Policy responses, including QE, aimed to stabilize markets but introduced uncertainty. The US's policies may have created long-term problems, especially for emerging economies. The paper concludes that the pandemic has significantly increased global financial market risks, with individual markets reacting to the severity of the outbreak in their countries. Non-conventional policies and lack of global cooperation have exacerbated uncertainty and potential long-term issues.