COVID-19 surge in India--key numbers

India reported more than 53,000 COVID-19 new cases on March 31. Active cases rose to 5.52 lakh mark. Over 6.30 crore vaccinations administered till date.

Moneycontrol News

March 31, 2021 / 12:21 PM IST

India’s COVID-19 case tally has breached 1.21 crore with 53,480 new cases, as per the health ministry’s March 31 update. India reported the highest novel coronavirus cases after the US and Brazil, accounting for 9 percent of the world's total cases.

India reported 354 new deaths and 41,280 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, the latest release showed. More than 6.30 crore vaccinations have been administered across India, according to the March 31 update, with 19,40,999 new vaccinations reported in a day.

Of the total vaccinations administered to date, 86 percent are recipients of their first dose while 14 percent have received the second dose. Among states, Maharashtra has administered the most 5.99 million vaccine doses, followed by Rajasthan (5.58 million) and Gujarat (5.82 million).

India now ranks 6th in the world with 5,52,566 active cases, an increase of 11,846 cases in 24 hours as per the March 31 update. Maharashtra now reports the most (3,41,887 or 62 percent) active cases in the country, followed by Karnataka (25,560) and Kerala (24,960).

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Maharashtra reported the most (27,918 or 52 percent) new cases in the last 24 hours, followed by Chhattisgarh (3,108), Karnataka (2,975), Kerala (2,389) and Tamil Nadu (2,342). These five states account for 72 percent of all the new cases reported in India.

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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