India logs 14,148 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours; active cases now below 1.5 lakh

All the states continued to register a fall in active infections, except for Himachal Pradesh which recorded a marginal rise in active cases.

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

February 24, 2022 / 09:56 IST

India has reported 14,148 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, continuing the trend of under 20,000 new daily cases this week and the dip in active cases also continued. The new cases take the number of total confirmed coronavirus cases in the country to 4,28, 81, 179.

A total of 302 COVID-19 deaths were also registered, taking the official toll of fatalities due to the infectious disease to 5,12,924. Kerala, meanwhile, continued to report backlog deaths as part of its data reconciliation exercise and registered 121 backlog deaths.

The state also recorded the highest, 67, deaths in India in a day, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka which reported 23 and 21 fatalities respectively.

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The active COVID-19 caseload in the country stands at 1,48,359—9.8 percent lower than the previous day. The active cases now comprise 0.35 per cent of the total confirmed cases.

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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