COVID-19: Night curfew likely in Goa, says minister

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, however, did not specify when its implementation is likely to start.

PTI

December 31, 2020 / 01:18 PM IST

The Goa government is likely to impose night curfew in the state on the lines of Delhi to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a state minister said on Thursday.

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, however, did not specify when its implementation is likely to start.

He said that he has discussed the issue with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

"I have spoken to the chief minister on imposing night curfew in the state on lines of the state of Delhi and Karnataka. The file is already in the process," Rane said in a statement.

"Strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) is the need of the hour as Goa is a tourist state," he added.

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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