New COVID-19 cases in India dip below 50,000; active cases at 5,37,045

India logged 44,877 infections, while the death toll climbed to 5,08,665 with 684 fresh fatalities, the data updated on February 13 at 8 am stated.

PTI

February 13, 2022 / 10:10 IST

A patient wearing a protective mask looks on after he was admitted to the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Daily new COVID-19 cases in the country dipped below 50,000 after around 40 days, taking the country's virus tally to 4,26,31,421, while the active cases declined to 5,37,045, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

India logged 44,877 infections, while the death toll climbed to 5,08,665 with 684 fresh fatalities, the data updated on February 13 at 8 am stated.

A total of 37,379 people had tested positive for the infection in a day on January 4.

The daily COVID-19 cases were recorded less than one lakh for seven consecutive days

The active cases comprise 1.26 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 97.55 per cent, the ministry said.

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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