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No case of Delta plus variant of COVID-19 in Delhi so far: Health Minister Satyendar Jain

Satyendra Jain said the Delhi government is in the process of increasing hospital beds to accommodate 37,000 cases a day in case of a third wave.

June 30, 2021 / 20:07 IST
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Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said the national capital has not reported any case of Delta plus variant of COVID-19 so far, adding that there is no communication from the Centre to make any special arrangement to deal with it.

He said a genome sequencing lab to detect the variants of coronavirus will become operational at Lok Nayak Hospital within a week.

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Another such lab is being created at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, he said.

Also Read: Explained | Why coronavirus’ Delta Plus variant is concerning

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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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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