Coronavirus update: Total number of COVID-19 cases in India crosses grim 15-lakh mark

India has created and maintained a new high of testing more than five lakh samples for COVID-19 in a single day over two consecutive days, the health ministry said

Moneycontrol News

July 28, 2020 / 09:21 PM IST

File Image (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India crossed the grim 15-lakh mark on July 28.

The total tally now stands at 15,16,129 according to worldometer, while the death toll is 33,866.

The maximum number of cases have been reported from Maharashtra (3,83,723), followed by Tamil Nadu (2,20,716), Delhi (1,31,219), Andhra Pradesh (1,02,349) and Karnataka (1,01,465), as per data available on the health ministry's website.

However, India's COVID-19 fatality rate has progressively declined to 2.25 percent from 3.33 per cent on June 18 , while the recovery rate has gradually increased from around 53 per cent in mid-June to more than 64 percent now, the health ministry said.

With 35,176 patients discharged in a 24-hour span, the total recoveries surged to 9,52,743 and exceeded the active coronavirus cases by 4,55,755, it stated further. For the fifth day in a row, India has seen more than 30,000 recoveries per day.

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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