HomeNewsPodcastCoronavirus Essential podcast | 800 fliers infected since flights resumed in May; are virus-tracing apps really working?

Coronavirus Essential podcast | 800 fliers infected since flights resumed in May; are virus-tracing apps really working?

Tune in to Coronavirus Essential with Sakshi Batra to find out the top updates on the ongoing pandemic.

July 09, 2020 / 19:04 IST
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About 800 fliers have tested positive for coronavirus since domestic flights resumed on May 25, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. A total of 2.7 million people have flown since the flights restarted. This means the infection rate is still very low at just 0.03 percent.

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A report by The New York Times has pointed out security issues in virus-tracing apps used by governments around the world. Even though these apps help in identifying positive cases, digital rights groups claim the apps are just a show of action taken against the virus.

Tune in to Coronavirus Essential with Sakshi Batra to find out the top updates on the ongoing pandemic.

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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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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Moneycontrol News
first published: Jul 9, 2020 07:04 pm

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