Mumbai, May 9 (PTI) Maharashtra on Sunday reported 48,401 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 572 fatalities, taking the tally to 51,01,737 and the toll to 75,849, the state health department said.

At 48,401, the number of new cases in a day fell below 50,000 for the first time after April 5 this year, when the state had recorded 47,288 infections.

A total of 60,226 patients were discharged during the day, taking the count of recoveries so far in Maharashtra to 44,07,818, the department said in a release.

Of the 572 fatalities, 310 had occurred in the last 48 hours, it said.

The case recovery rate in Maharashtra now stands at 86.4 per cent while the case fatality rate is1.49 per cent, as per the department.

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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Maharashtra: Coronavirus cases drop below 50,000 after April 5; 572 die

A total of 60,226 patients were discharged during the day, taking the count of recoveries so far in Maharashtra to 44,07,818, the department said in a release.

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