COVID-19: Daily deaths below 300 after over 6 months, 22,273 new cases reported

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 97,40,108, pushing the national recovery rate to 95.78 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 percent.

PTI

December 26, 2020 / 11:38 AM IST

A man reacts as a doctor wearing a protective gear takes a swab from him to test for the coronavirus disease at a residential area in Ahmedabad. (Image: Reuters)

India's daily new COVID-19 fatality count was reported below 300 after over six months, taking the death toll to 1,47,343, while the infection tally rose to 1,01,69,118, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Saturday.

A total of 251 more deaths and 22,273 new infections were reported in a 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 97,40,108, pushing the national recovery rate to 95.78 percent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 percent.

The active caseload remained below three lakh for the fifth consecutive day. There are 2,81,667 active coronavirus infections in the country, constituting 2.77 percent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India's COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

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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