In Charts | What you need to know about the COVID-19 surge right now

India reported more than 3 lakh COVID-19 new cases--for the first time, highest ever in the world by any country, according to the April 22 update. Active cases rose to 22.91 lakh mark. Over 13.23 crore vaccinations administered till date.

Moneycontrol News

April 22, 2021 / 11:49 IST

(Representative image)

India’s COVID-19 case tally is now above 1.59 crore with 314,835 new cases reported as per the health ministry’s April 22, 2021 update. This is the first time ever that new cases have crossed the 3 lakh mark and this is also the highest single day rise reported anywhere in the world.

April 22 Daily New Cases and Moving Avg

India reported 2,104 new deaths (highest till date) and 178,841 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the latest release shows. More than 13.23 crore vaccinations have been administered across India, according to the April 22 update, with 2,211,334 new vaccinations reported in a day.

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Of the total vaccinations administered till date, 86 percent are recipients of their first dose while 14 percent have received the second dose. Among states, Maharashtra has administered the most - nearly 13.3 million vaccine doses, followed by Rajasthan (11.7 million) and Uttar Pradesh (11.3 million).

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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