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Coronavirus wrap May 13: FM Sitharaman announces slew of economic measures; BRICS provides India loan to fight COVID-19

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that he has requested Centre to deploy Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the state; and other key developments from India and across the world:

May 13, 2020 / 09:53 PM IST
Representative image

Representative image

Coronavirus cases in India continued to rise on May 12, with the country reporting over 3,000 new cases and 122 deaths due to the infection.

Maharashtra and Gujarat continued to report the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of economic measures, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation, said that a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package will be unveiled in the coming days.

Here are all the latest updates:

>> In her address to the media, Sitharaman presented the fine print of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package announced by the prime minister in his address on May 12.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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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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>> PM CARES fund trust decided to allocate Rs 3,100 crore for fight against COVID-19.

>> Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said that he has requested Centre to deploy Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) in the state.

>> 8,503 Indians have been flown back to India onboard 43 flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under the Vande Bharat Mission in six days beginning from May 7, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

>> Karnataka said that it is likely to open gyms, fitness centres and golf courses after May 17, when the third phase of the lockdown ends.

>> Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) unit guarding Kolkata-based warship building facility registered 38 COVID-19 cases.

>> BRICS' New Development Bank provided $1 billion loan to India to fight COVID-19.

>> Five plagues have come out of China in the last 20 years, and at some point it has to stop, says US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien.

Moneycontrol News
first published: May 13, 2020 09:53 pm

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