Union minister Kailash Chaudhary tests positive for COVID-19

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary has tested positive for coronavirus, he said in a tweet on Saturday. He is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jodhpur, he said.

"Following the test done last night after showing symptoms, the report for coronavirus has come out positive," Chaudhary tweeted.

''All friends who came in contact with me in the last few days should keep distance from their family members and get themselves tested," he said.

"There is fever with little breathing problem. I am taking treatment under the supervision of doctors in the hospital," he said in the tweet.

सांस लेने में थोड़ी तकलीफ के साथ बुखार है। मैं अस्पताल में चिकित्सकों की देखरेख में स्वास्थ्य लाभ ले रहा हूँ। आप सभी से निवेदन है कि परेशान न हो। अत्यंत आवश्यक कार्य होने पर आप फोन कर सकते हैं।

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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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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— Kailash Choudhary (@KailashBaytu) August 8, 2020

The Union minister, who was on a three-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Jaisalmer, had visited several places.

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