HomeNewsTrendsHealthDoubling time of COVID-19 cases in India decreases from 504.4 days to 202.3 days, says Health Ministry

Doubling time of COVID-19 cases in India decreases from 504.4 days to 202.3 days, says Health Ministry

Six states -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu -- collectively account for 80.90 percent of the 40,715 infections reported in a span of 24 hours.

March 23, 2021 / 13:06 IST
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The doubling time of COVID-19 cases in India has decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, highlighting that six states have reported a surge in daily new cases and together account for 80.90 percent of the new infections reported in a day.

Meanwhile, more than 32.53 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered on March 22, which is the highest single-day vaccination so far, taking the total number of people inoculated to over 4.8 crore.

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Six states -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu -- collectively account for 80.90 percent of the 40,715 infections reported in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 24,645 (60.53 percent). It is followed by Punjab with 2,299 cases and Gujarat with 1,640 new cases.

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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