IJMR report | Break up of coronavirus cases by age, gender and state-wise

IJMR analysed SARI surveillance data between February 15 and April 2 to calculate the weekly COVID-19 positivity and described the distribution of positive SARI cases by place and individual characteristics.

Moneycontrol News

April 10, 2020 / 17:03 IST

Representative Image (Reuters)

The Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) carried out sentinel surveillance among severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) patients to help identify the spread and extent of transmission of novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

Methods: SARI patients admitted at 41 sentinel sites from February 15 onwards were tested for COVID-19 by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, targeting the SARS-CoV-2 E (envelope protein) and RdRp (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) genes9. Data were extracted from Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory Network for analysis.

Report analysis: In India, total of 5,911 SARI patients were tested for COVID-19, Of these, 104 (1.8 percent) tested positive for COVID-19. Among those 965 SARI patient samples, which were tested between February 15 and March 19 (the first three weeks), there was only two positive cases. However, in the next two week, i.e. from March 22 to April 22, there were 102 new positive cases.

Gender-wise break-up: Of the 5,723 SARI patients that were tested, there were 3,676 male and 2,047 women. The number of postive COVID-19 cases among males and females were 85 and 17, respectively.

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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