India's COVID-19 active caseload below 9 lakh for fourth consecutive day

Also, a total of 71,559 patients have recovered and were discharged in a span of 24 hours against 66,732 new infections reported during the same period.

PTI

October 12, 2020 / 14:05 IST

India’s COVID-19 recoveries have surged to over 61 lakh, while active cases of coronavirus infection remained below nine lakh for the fourth consecutive day, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

The total recoveries have increased to61,49,535 and exceed the active infections by 52,87,682 as on date, it highlighted.

Also, a total of 71,559 patients have recovered and were discharged in a span of 24 hours against 66,732 new infections reported during the same period.

"India continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases.For the fourth day after the active cases dropped below the 9 lakh mark after a month, the decline continues,” the ministry said.

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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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