Coronavirus Daily Update: COVID-19 cases explained in charts

India reported more than 59,000 COVID-19 new cases on March 26. Active cases have now risen to 4.21 lakh while more than 5.55 crore vaccines have been administered to date.

Chaitanya Mallapur

March 26, 2021 / 11:32 AM IST

File image (Image: AP)

India's coronavirus count continues to surge with 59,118 new infections reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the country's total COVID-19 cases to above 1.18 crore, the health ministry’s update on March 26 said.

India reported 257 deaths and 32,987 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, the latest release shows. More than 5.55 crore vaccine doses have been administered across India, according to the March 26 update, with 23,58,731 new vaccinations reported in a day.

Of the total vaccines, 85 percent are first doses, while 15 percent are second doses. Among states, Maharashtra has administered the most 5.2 million vaccines followed by Rajasthan (5.1 million) and Uttar Pradesh (5 million).

Active cases rose to 4,21,066 with an increase of 25,874 cases on March 26. Maharashtra continues to reports the most—2,64,001 or 63 percent— active cases in the country followed by Kerala (24,690) and Punjab (21,405).

The western state also reported the most—35,952 or 61 percent—new cases in the last 24 hours followed by Punjab (2,661), Karnataka (2,523), Chhattisgarh (2,419) and Kerala (1,989). These five states together account for 77 percent of all the new cases in India.

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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