India reports 30,615 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours; active cases down by 12.5%

The COVID-19 cases are under 1 lakh mark in the country for the 10th consecutive day while the active cases continue to dip swiftly

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

February 16, 2022 / 09:56 IST

Representational image (Source: Reuters)

India registered 30,615 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, 11.6 % higher than the day before but the trend of sharp fall in active cases continues.

The number of active cases dropped by 12.5 percent to 3,70,240 during the 24-hour period. Active cases now constitute 0.87 per cent of the total reported cases.

The fresh cases added on February 16, took the tally of total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 42,723, 558.

A total of 514 COVID-19 fresh fatalities pushed the country's death toll to 5,09,872, as per the latest data.

As part of the data reconciliation exercise, Kerala continued to add backlog deaths and reported 130 such deaths. The state, however, also added the highest—174 deaths—in a day, followed by Maharashtra which registered 35 fatalities and Karnataka which recorded 26 deaths in the 24-hour period.

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.

Show