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

Assam, Delhi, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, and Sikkim reported a minor rise in active infections over 24 hours

Sumi Sukanya Dutta

March 21, 2022 / 09:24 IST

Omicron | Representative image

India reported 1,549 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest since 30 March 2020, taking the total number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country to 4,30,09,390 even as active cases continued to decline.

A total of 31 new deaths due to the infectious disease were recorded in the period, raising COVID-19 fatalities to 5,16,510. Of these new deaths, 20 were backlog deaths reported by Kerala as part of its data reconciliation exercise.

Kerala reported the highest number of coronavirus deaths at four in the last 24 hours and was among the seven states which reported at least a death in the period. Majority of the states and Union Territories did not report any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Also read I Active COVID-19 cases in India fall below 30,000, but Centre asks states to step up surveillance efforts

The country’s active caseload is now 25,106, down 1,134 from the previous day, and active cases constitute of 0.06 percent of total confirmed cases. Kerala has the biggest active caseload at 6,639. Assam, Delhi, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, and Sikkim reported a minor rise in active infections.

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