Coronavirus second wave | Sri Lanka's re-emerging COVID-19 strain has high transmissibility: study

Sri Lanka's COVID-19 cases crossed the 10,000-mark with 20 deaths reported on October 31. When the second wave was reported on October 4, there were only 3,396 cases with just 13 deaths.

PTI

October 31, 2020 / 08:33 PM IST

Sri Lanka's second COVID-19 wave which began early in October has the mutation associated with high transmissibility, according to a study.

A team of scientists at University of Sri Jayewardenepura carried out genomic sequencing of the virus to determine if the current outbreak is due to spread of different strains, Dr Chandima Jeewandara, a team member told reporters.

Sri Lanka's COVID-19 cases crossed the 10,000-mark with 20 deaths reported on October 31.

Read: Coronavirus second wave: Causes, preventive measures and other things you should know

When the second wave was reported on October 4, there were only 3,396 cases with just 13 deaths. The figures then were coming from mid-March when the first COVID-19 case was reported.

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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