Telangana health minister confirms two cases of COVID-19 reinfection: Report

This comes after the Director of Public Health, G Srinivas Rao, had earlier in the day said there are a few cases of reinfection in Telangana though the symptoms are mild

Moneycontrol News

August 25, 2020 / 21:46 IST

From Reddy's Laboratories Ltd saying that late-stage clinical trials of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine may begin in a few weeks to Bharat Biotech saying it plans to begin phase 3 of Covaxin in October, here are all the latest updates on a coronavirus vaccine and the progress of its many candidates.

Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender on August 25 said that of the 1 lakh cases in the state, two have been confirmed as COVID-19 reinfection cases, The New Indian Express reported.

This is the first time that the state government has acknowledged treating cases of virus reinfection, according to the newspaper.

"The virus is new and we are learning about it daily. There is no guarantee that coronavirus will not come again in those who were infected before. Those who are not developing antibodies in enough amount might get infected again," Rajender said.

This comes after the Director of Public Health, G Srinivas Rao, had earlier in the day said there are a few cases of reinfection in Telangana, though the symptoms are mild and "not severe".

Earlier, reports had suggested that a male nurse in Hyderabad had tested positive for the infection twice: once in June and then again in July after being tested negative.

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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