Daily COVID-19 cases in India lowest in 662 days

Only Nagaland and Lakshwadeep reported a minor rise in the COVID-19 active caseload in the 24-hour period

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

March 08, 2022 / 10:04 IST

(Image: Reuters)

India has reported 3,993 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 662 days, in line with the trend of decline in daily new infections while the active caseload for the country dipped below 50,000. The new cases take the total confirmed tally in the country to 4,29,71,308.

A total of 108 COVID-19 deaths were also registered, taking the toll due to the infectious disease to 5,15,210. Kerala continued to report backlog deaths as part of its data reconciliation exercise registering 59 backlog deaths.

Kerala also registered the highest deaths at 24 in the 24-hour period, followed by Karnataka (5) and Haryana (4). No other state registered more than 3 daily deaths .

The active COVID-19 caseload in the country now stands at 49,948—down more than 8 per cent from the previous day and 0.12 per cent of the total confirmed cases. Active coronavirus cases in Kerala, which has the highest caseload in the country, stands at 13,684.

Also Read: India's COVID-19 death numbers 'suspect', says Chidambaram

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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