Fresh COVID-19 cases over 24 hours touch lowest in 680 days

The active load of coronavirus in all the states and UTs, including Kerala, is now under 10,000

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

March 14, 2022 / 09:49 IST

Representative image

India has reported 2,503 new COVID-19 cases in a day, the lowest in 680 days while the swift decline in active cases continued with the active caseload at the lowest in 675 days.

The new cases take the total confirmed tally to 4,29,93,494.

A total of 27 COVID-19 deaths were also registered in the period, taking the toll due to the infectious disease to 5,15,877. Kerala continued to report backlog deaths as part of its data reconciliation exercise registering nine fatalities.

It also registered the highest deaths at six in the 24-hour period, followed by Odisha (7). Majority of the states and Union Territories (UTs), however, recorded no deaths during the day.

The active COVID-19 caseload in the country now stands at 36,168—0.08 percent of the total confirmed cases. Active coronavirus cases in Kerala, which has the highest caseload in the country, stand at 9,666. The active load of coronavirus in all the states and UTs is now under 10,000.

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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