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More than 16 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with almost 620 thousand deaths. Almost all countries are affected by this pandemic, but half of the cases reported are from just three countries, namely the United States, Brazil and India. The pandemic has disrupted the lives of billions of people. Many have been at home for months. It is good news that Oxford-Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine has entered phase III clinical trials and the vaccine is reported to elicit a strong immune response in the host bodies and gave encouraging results. Human clinical trials for an indigenously developed vaccine for Covid-19 have been initiated in the country with approximately 1,000 volunteers participating in the exercise. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has permitted two vaccines - one developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and another one by Zydas Cadila Healthcare Ltd to go in for the first and second phase of human clinical trials. According to the WHO Director-General, “health is a human right, not a privilege”. The whole world is now looking optimistically at the scientific fraternity for the possible solutions to handle the grave situation. We have to play our own part in protecting ourselves. We are publishing our second issue on COVID-19 research.

The invitation by Trends in Biomaterials and Artificial Organs (TIBAO) for submitting COVID-19 research is still open. Reviews and articles which reports the developments in biomaterials, medical devices, tissue engineering and biomedicine specific to the management and control of COVID-19. This will be published in continuation of this second issue after rapid peer-review process.