HomeNewsIndiaBihar Unlock: Govt, private offices to 'work normally' with vaccinated employees, schools to reopen for Class 11, 12

Bihar Unlock: Govt, private offices to 'work normally' with vaccinated employees, schools to reopen for Class 11, 12

The Bihar government has also allowed restaurant and eateries to function with 50 percent seating capacity.

July 05, 2021 / 14:50 IST
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File image of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
File image of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on July 5 announced major relaxations in the ongoing lockdown, in view of the dwindling COVID-19 case load. Government and private offices in the state are now allowed to resume work normally with vaccinated employees in attendance.

"After reviewing the current situation, it has been decided to allow all government, non-government offices to resume work normally. Vaccinated employees would be allowed to enter the offices," Nitish Kumar tweeted.

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As part of the unlock drive, the chief minister has also approved the reopening of schools for Class 11 and 12 students, with a cap of 50 percent attendance. Universities and other higher educational institutes would also be allowed to function at half their capacities.

"Universities, technical education institutes, and schools for Classes 11th and 12th will reopen with 50 percent capacity," Kumar tweeted in Hindi, adding that vaccination facilities would also be provided at the premises of educational institutes to inoculate students, teachers and other staff members.

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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