Single day spike of 37,148 Covid-19 cases in India; vaccine trials give hope

India on Tuesday reported a spike of 37,148 cases in the last 24 hours. With 587 deaths, the toll rose to 28, 084 in the country.

The total number of positive cases stand at 11,55,191 including 4,02,529 active cases and 7,24, 578 cured, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Results of sero-prevalence study show that nearly six months into the epidemic, only 23.48% of people are affected in the national capital, which has several pockets of dense population. The Government of India said that this can be attributed to efforts taken by government as well as citizens compliance to covid appropriate behaviour.

However there is some good news about the vaccine trials happening around the world.

Two potential vaccines to protect against the novel coronavirus- one from Oxford University and Astra Zeneca Plc and other from China’s CanSino Biologics- showed immune responses in healthy volunteers without causing dangerous side effects.

Doses of the vaccine were given to 1,077 healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 in five UK hospitals in April and May as part of the phase one clinical trial and results, published in the Lancet’ medical journal.

The results show they induced strong antibody and T-cell immune responses for upto 56 days after they were given. T-cell is crucial for maintaining protection against the virus for years.

It also showed strong immune response in the 10 participants who received two doses of vaccination which indicated that it could be a good strategy.

With the trials of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University showing encouraging results, Serum Institute of India (SII) said it will apply for a license from the Indian regulator to start clinical trials of the shot in a week’s time.

SII, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, has been chosen by Oxford and its partner AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine once it gets ready.

Globally, the virus has killed over 6,06,000 people and infected more than 14,538,000 people worldwide.