Coronavirus wrap April 27: PM Modi discusses lockdown exit strategy; Boris Johnson re-joins office after recovery

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, US' top health body, added six new symptoms to COVID-19 list; and other key developments from India and around the world:

Moneycontrol News

April 27, 2020 / 09:00 PM IST

The Union Health Ministry on April 27 said that there has been a rise of 1,463 new cases while 60 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 28,380 in India.

This has been India's highest single-day death toll since the start of the outbreak in the country.

Here are all the latest updates:

>> Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with chief ministers of states and discussed the staggered exit strategy from the countrywide lockdown. According to reports, the government plans on continuing the lockdown in the hotspots post-May 3, but wants easing of restrictions in other areas.

>> In its revised guidelines for the use of rapid antibody test kits, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advised states against using kits procured from Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics. It also asked states to return kits procured from them in order for it to be sent back.

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.

Show