This issue of Southasiadisasters.net is titled ‘Perspectives on the Pandemic: COVID-19 in South Asia’ and brings forth different perspectives on managing the COVID-19 outbreak in South Asia. South Asia is unlike other regions in the world, it is culturally diverse, economically dynamic and demographically young. Moreover, South Asia is also the world’s most populous and most densely populated region, housing one-fourth of the world’s population on 3.5% of its total land surface area. All these factors have shaped the response of the government, private and civil society actors to the pandemic in the region.