India saw a single-day rise of 25,166 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 154 days, taking the tally to 3,22,50,679, while the national recovery rate was recorded at 97.51 percent, the highest since March 2020, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,32,079 with 437 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The active cases have declined to 3,69,846, the lowest in 146 days. It comprises 1.15 percent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 12,101 cases has been recorded in the total number of active COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 15,63,985 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 49,66,29,524. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.61 percent. It has been less than three percent for the last 22 days.

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 25,166 new COVID-19 cases, 437 deaths

The death toll has climbed to 4,32,079 with 437 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

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