These states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab, an official statement said, noting that more than 63 per of the active cases in the country are concentrated in these seven states.

PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level virtual meeting with chief ministers and health ministers of seven high-burden states on Wednesday to review the COVID-19 situation.

These states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab, an official statement said, noting that more than 63 per of the active cases in the country are concentrated in these seven states.

They also account for 65.5 per cent of the total confirmed cases and 77 per cent of the total deaths.

"Along with the other five states, Punjab and Delhi have reported an increase in the number of cases being reported recently. Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi are reporting high mortality with more than 2.0% Case Fatality Rate (CFR). Other than Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, their positivity rate is observed to be above the national average of 8.52 per cent," the statement said.

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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The Centre, it added, has been leading the fight against COVID-19 in effective collaboration and close coordination with the state and union territory governments.

The Union government is supporting them to ramp up healthcare and medical infrastructure, with the clinical management capacities of the doctors manning the ICUs having been substantially upgraded through the e-ICU tele-consultation exercise undertaken by the Health Ministry in collaboration with AIIMS, New Delhi.

The statement said high-level reviews have ensured adequate availability of medical oxygen in hospitals and COVID healthcare facilities.

The Centre is also regularly deputing multi-disciplinary teams to states and UTs to support and handhold them in matters of containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of the positive cases.

First Published on Sep 22, 2020 01:01 pm

PM Modi to chair COVID review meeting with CMs of seven high-burden states on September 23

These states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab, an official statement said, noting that more than 63 per of the active cases in the country are concentrated in these seven states.

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tags #coronavirus #Covid-19 #Current Affairs #India