"Coronavirus vaccine still 12 to 18 months away," says WHO as Covid-19 global count soars

In a massive and worrying statement, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday has said that the vaccine for coronavirus will still take at least 12 to 18 months. In his media address, Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday said that there are now more than half a million confirmed cases of COVID19 & more than 20,000 deaths. He expressed that these are tragic numbers, adding that there are hundreds of thousands of survivors.

Speaking about the vaccine, he said, "One of the most important areas of international cooperation is research and development. A vaccine is still at least 12 to 18 months away. In the meantime, we recognize that there is an urgent need for therapeutics to treat patients and save lives."

Currently, there are 597,262 cases in the world, with 27,365 deaths. So far, 133,363 people have recovered. The United States on March 27 overtook the number of cases in Italy and China, and has now reported more than 100,000 cases. In the U.S., health officials have reported at least 1,300 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Kerala reports highest number of COVID-19 cases at 176 in India, tests over 5000 samples

Coronavirus in India

As of March 28, India has reported over 850 active cases, and 19 deaths. To tackle the growing cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown for 21 days. The highest number of cases have been reported from Kerala - 176 cases and Maharashtra - 180 cases. 

COVID-19: MHA releases new lockdown guidelines; farming & related activities to operate

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) published a study warning about community transmission of the pandemic that may take place from a minimum of 20 days to a few months. It also states that by quarantining of individuals with symptoms of COVID-19 can delay the introduction of the virus into the community by three days to three weeks  - which in turn reduces cumulative cases by 62%  and the peak number of cases by 89%, in an optimistic scenario. 

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