Maharashtra COVID-19 death toll crosses 20,000-mark; 11,111 new cases reported

Mumbai reported 1,010 new cases and 47 deaths. This took the number of cases in the city to 1,28,726 and death toll to 7,133. The number of active cases in Mumbai are 17,825 now.

Moneycontrol News

August 16, 2020 / 21:27 IST

The coronavirus death toll in Maharashtra breached the 20,000-mark on August 16 after 288 patients succumbed to the infection, a state health official said.

The state reported 11,111 new positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall tally to 5,95,865, he said.

The number of deaths caused by the infection now stands at 20,037, the official said.

A total of 8,837 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on Sunday, taking the count of such persons to 4,17,123.

There are 1,58,395 active cases in the state now, the official added.

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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