Coronavirus Daily Update: COVID-19 cases explained in charts

India reported over 21,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, according to the official update on December 31. Active cases continued to slide with a fall of over 4,000 in a day. The recovery rate has risen to 96 percent.

Chaitanya Mallapur

December 31, 2020 / 11:36 AM IST

Representative image: AP

As many as 21,822 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India in the previous 24 hour-cycle, as per the health ministry’s update on December 31. India’s overall tally stands above 1.02 crore.

India reported 299 deaths (below the 300-mark for the sixth day) and 26,139 recoveries in 24 hours, the latest release shows. Active cases continued to drop, to 2,57,656 with a fall of 4,616 cases in a day.

Kerala reported the most 6,268 (or 29 percent) new cases in the previous 24 hours, followed by Maharashtra (3,537), West Bengal (1,178), Chhattisgarh (1,069) and Uttar Pradesh (1,025). These five states accounted for 60 percent of all the new cases reported in India during the period.

covid-19-Dec 31- update

Maharashtra reported the most deaths (90 - or 30 percent), followed by Kerala (28), West Bengal (28), Delhi (21) and Tamil Nadu (17). These five states accounted for 62 percent of all new fatalities reported across the country during the period.

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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