The Chairman of the Board of Governors of Medical Council of India, a Niti Aayog member, Dr. VK Paul on Sunday during an interview with PTI said that the trends in the European countries (that are experiencing winter) reflect on the probability of the second wave of COVID-19 in India.

With more than 7.49 million cases and 114 thousand deaths, India ranks second to the US in the coronavirus count. However, according to VK Paul, India is in a better position with the number of new coronavirus cases and deaths have declined in the last three weeks.

Paul is also the chief expert coordinating efforts to tackle the pandemic in the country. He has played a pivotal role in formulating the POSHAN Abhiyaan and the Ayushman Bharat initiative.

Referring to the status of the vaccine distribution, he said,“ In India, the new coronavirus cases and the number of deaths have declined in the last three weeks and the pandemic has stabilised in most of the states. However, there are five states (Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal) and 3-4 Union Territories (UTs), where there is still a rising trend.”

As the head of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), Paul believes that although India in a better shape, 90% of the people are still susceptible to coronavirus infections.

“We cannot rule out (a second coronavirus wave this winter in India). Things can happen and we are still learning about the virus,” Paul said.

To a query about storage and distribution of vaccine once it is available, he said India has enough cold storage facilities to an extent and this can be readily augmented as required.

“Once the vaccine is available, there will be enough resources for delivering vaccines and making vaccines accessible to the citizens and there will be no concern about resources under those circumstances,” Paul said.

The coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,14,031, the health ministry’s data updated at 8 am showed. The number of active cases of coronavirus infection remained below eight lakh for the second consecutive day.