Coronavirus wrap April 4: Total COVID-19 cases reach 3,072 with 525 fresh infections, death toll touches 75 in India

Here's a roundup of the day's developments

Moneycontrol News

April 04, 2020 / 20:55 IST

Representative Image (Reuters)

The number of novel coronavirus cases crossed the 3,000-mark on April 4 after 525 fresh infections, the highest in a 24-hour span, were reported across the country, while 13 new fatalities took the death toll to 75, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 2,784, while 212 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated. The death toll rose to 75 after 13 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 3,072, including 57 foreign nationals, according to the ministry data.

Here's a roundup of the day's major developments:

> Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a detailed discussion on April 4 on the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak and resolved to deploy the full strength of the India-US partnership to fight the pandemic.

> As many as 1,023 COVID-19 positive cases found in 17 states have been traced to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the Union Health Ministry has said, underlining that about 30 per cent of the total novel coronavirus cases in the country are linked to "one particular place".

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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