Maharashtra on Friday reported 66,836 new coronavirus cases, a little less than the day before, but the deaths jumped by over 200 to 773, the health department said.

The caseload rose to 41,61,676 while death toll reached 63,252.

On Thursday, the state had reported 67,013 cases and 568 fatalities. Out of 773 fatalities, 360 occurred in the last 48 hours and 224 last week, while remaining deaths had taken place before that, the department said.

After a long time, the number of recoveries exceeded new cases. As many as 74,045 patients were discharged, raising the number of recovered cases to 34,04,792.

So active cases dropped from 6,99,858 on Thursday to 6,91,851.

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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After Mumbai city, Raigad district reported 27 deaths followed by 22 in Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation and 16 in Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation in the division. The Nashik division reported 9,101 cases. Nashik city reported 1,857 cases against 3,160 on Thursday. The rest of the Nashik district reported 1,558 cases, down from 2,509 on Thursday.

However, Ahmednagar district (2,664), Ahmednagar city (943), Jalgaon (1,158) and Nandurbar district (444) reported more COVID-19 cases compared to Thursday. Out of 93 deaths in the division, 21 were from Nashik city followed by 20 in Nashik district, 18 in Ahmednagar city and 13 in Ahmednagar district and 10 in Jalgaon district.

The Pune division saw 13,220 fresh infections, including 4,536 in Pune city, 2,930 in Pune district and 2,397 in neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad city.

Out of 124 deaths in the division, 40 were in Solapur city, 17 in Solapur district and 37 in Satara district. The Kolhapur division added 2,644 new cases.

Kolhapur division reported 36 deaths, 14 of which were reported from Sindhudurg and 11 each from Ratnagiri and Sangli districts.

Aurangabad division reported 3,338 infections and 11 deaths.

The Latur division reported 4,736 cases along with 118 deaths, of which 40 were from Nanded district, 12 from Nanded city, 20 from Osmanabad, 17 in Latur and 16 in Beed.

Latur city and Nanded city reported 13 and 12 deaths, respectively.

The caseload of Akola division increased by 4,006 with 92 deaths of which Yavatmal district contributed 70.

The Nagpur division registered 12,823 new cases including 5,426 in Nagpur city and 2,544 in Nagpur district. Bhandara, Wardha and Chandrapur districts reported 1,124, 1,023 and 1,184 cases, respectively. The division also reported 118 deaths of which 40 were from Nagpur city and 18 from Nagpur district.

Gondia reported 20 deaths, followed by 17 in Wardha and 11 in Bhandara. Maharashtra's coronavirus figures are as follows: Total cases 41,61,676, new cases 66,836, death toll 63,252, recoveries 34,04,792, active cases 6,91,851, people tested so far 2,51,88,266.

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Maharashtra reports 66,836 COVID-19 cases, 773 deaths, 74,045 recoveries

After a long time, the number of recoveries exceeded new cases. As many as 74,045 patients were discharged, raising the number of recovered cases to 34,04,792.

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