Maharashtra sees 1,553 new COVID-19 cases, 26 deaths, 1,682 recoveries

Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 97.38 per cent and the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent

PTI

October 16, 2021 / 21:08 IST

Representative image: Reuters

Maharashtra on Saturday reported 1,553 coronavirus positive cases and 26 fatalities while 1,682 patients recovered, the state health department said. The new additions pushed the COVID-19 tally in Maharashtra to 65,89,982, the death toll to 1,39,760, and the number of recoveries to 64,16,998, leaving the state with 29,627 active cases.

Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 97.38 per cent and the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent, the department said in a statement. With 1,00,944 new tests, the number of samples examined so far in Maharashtra went up to 6,09,09,99, it said.

Mumbai city reported 319 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths, taking the caseload to 7,51,293 and the number of fatalities to 16,180. Mumbai division saw 582 cases and five deaths, which raised the count of infections in the region to 16,91,183 and the toll to 35,395, the department said.

Nashik division reported 385 new cases, including 230 in the Ahmednagar district. Pune division saw 402 infections, Kolhapur division 119, Aurangabad division 24, and Latur division 35. In the Akola division, two cases were reported in the Buldhana district and not a single death due to COVID-19.

Nagpur division saw four cases, including one in the Nagpur district and three in Nagpur city. No fresh COVID-19 death was reported, the department release said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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