New COVID-19 cases hover below 2k for fifth day in a row

Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, and Telangana registered a minor rise in new infections over the past 24 hours

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

March 24, 2022 / 10:15 IST

Fresh COVID-19 cases hovered below the 2,000 mark for the fifth day in a row at 1,938 which is a tad higher than the previous day, even as active cases continued to fall

The new cases take the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country to 4,30,14,687. Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, and Telangana registered a minor rise in new infections over the past 24 hours.

A total of 67 new deaths due to the infectious disease were also recorded, raising the number of COVID-19 fatalities to 5,16,672. Of these new deaths, 53 were backlog deaths reported by Kerala as part of its data reconciliation exercise.

Kerala, at 8, also recorded the highest coronavirus related deaths in the last 24 hours followed by Maharashtra which registered two fatalities. Majority of the states and Union Territories did not report any COVID-19 deaths during the period.

Also Read Health ministry urges states to keep a vigil on COVID-19 patterns at district level as restrictions end on March 31

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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