Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far have reached 39.13 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. (Image: AP)

With a single-day rise of 35,342 cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,12 93,062 on Friday, while 483 more fatalities pushed the death toll due to the viral disease to 4,19,470, according to the health ministry.

The number of active cases has declined to 4,05,513, accounting for 1.3 percent of the total caseload, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 percent, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

A decline of 3,881 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 16,68,561 tests to detect the infection were carried out on Thursday, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 45,29,39,545, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.12 percent. It has been less than three percent for 32 consecutive days, the ministry said.

The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.14 percent.

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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Coronavirus update: India records 35,342 fresh COVID-19 cases, 483 more fatalities

The number of active cases has declined to 4,05,513, accounting for 1.3 percent of the total caseload, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 percent, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far have reached 39.13 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. (Image: AP)

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