COVID-19 | Andhra Pradesh extends partial lockdown till May 31

Extending the Andhra Pradesh curfew till May 31, CM Jagan Reddy said at least a four-week lockdown is inevitable to get the desired results vis-a-vis curbing COVID-19 spread.

May 17, 2021 / 20:18 IST

YSR Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 17 announced that the partial coronavirus lockdown in the state will be extended for another two weeks till the end of this month.

Andhra Pradesh has been reporting around 20,000 new COVID-19 cases for the past several days.

Extending the Andhra Pradesh curfew till May 31, CM Jagan Reddy said at least a four-week lockdown is inevitable to get the desired results vis-a-vis curbing COVID-19 spread at a time the country is reeling under the second wave of the pandemic.

The decision to extend the Andhra Pradesh lockdown was taken at a review meeting held on May 17 to discuss the prevention and control of COVID-19 and vaccination against the novel coronavirus disease.

At the meeting, Reddy instructed Andhra government officials to provide free treatment for Black Fungus infections under the Dr YSR Aarogyasri Scheme.

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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