Jubilee New Desk
India’s covid tally reached 7,550,273 on Monday, which is little behind the USA with 8,387,799 cases and is on the first places in terms of the number of total cases. India has recorded 114,642 deaths till now. Brazil on number three has recorded 5,235,344 cases till now.
There was a single-day rise of 55,722 new cases in the country, and 579 fatalities according to the union health ministry. Though average daily fresh cases are coming down in India experts are sceptical about a second wave.
The reasons for the continuous decline in coronavirus infection numbers since last month (when new cases daily numbered over 80000) have not been clear. The numbers have fallen sharply – even though travel restrictions have eased, economic and other activities have resumed and, to a large extent, normalcy has returned.
There has also been no reduction in the number of tests, nor has the disease prevalence in the population reached a stage where ‘herd immunity’ would have to be factored in. The use of face masks, and physical distancing are far from being universal.
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A recent case study of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu published in the journal Science a few weeks ago showed that almost 70% of infected people were not passing the disease to others. The virus was spreading only through a small set of people who are referred to as super-spreaders.
While there are three vaccine candidates against Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) being tested on humans in India, there is no intranasal vaccine candidate under trial currently, said Union health minister Harsh Vardhan. However, he also said that Serum Institute of India was manufacturing an intranasal vaccine candidate.
Flumist nasal spray is a vaccine that is sprayed into the nose to help protest against influenza; it is not a Covid-19 vaccine. At present in India, there is no intranasal Covid vaccine which is under clinical trials.