Representative image (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui)

India saw a single day rise of 15,754 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,43,14,618, with the active cases increasing to 1,01,830, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 5,27,253 with 47 fatalities which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprised 0.23 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.58 per cent, the health ministry said. An increase of 487 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.47 per cent, and weekly at 3.90 per cent, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,36,85,535, while the overall fatality rate has been 1.19 per cent.

According to the ministry, a total of 209.27 crore doses of COVID vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, and 50 lakh on September 16, the same year.

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 15,754 fresh COVID cases; 39 deaths

Coronavirus Update | The death toll climbed to 5,27,253 with 47 fatalities which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Representative image (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui)

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