Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of India's eminent virologists, said that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic will not be behind us until the positivity rate is brought below 5 percent.
"Low test positivity rate is important to ensure we are testing enough," she said in an interview with CNBC-TV18, adding that serosurveys and seropositivity rates will be crucial to assess whether cases have risen.
On the vaccination process, Dr Kang said an informed program for rapid rollout when vaccines are available is necessary. She was also positive that more vaccines will become more available towards the end of the year.
According to her, once that happens, there would be fewer constraints on vaccine supply as much of the rich world would have been vaccinated by the end of the year.
Touching upon data collection, Dr Kang said that one of the most important things to be achieved at the moment is ensuring data is properly collected.
"India has been unable to measure the impact of vaccination programs," she said, adding that at this stage linking testing and vaccination data is needed to construct targeted approaches.
As for the recent developments concerning Mucormycosis, Dr Kang said that sufficient data is not yet available. "Will hold on on the variant association theory on Mucormycosis," she said.
Dr Kang also said that the condition is very common among those patients who have a history of diabetes. Rampant use of steroids can send sugar levels out of control in diabetics, she added.
Ultimately, however, the virologist said that COVID-19 could become a seasonal virus. "We could see one or two waves of COVID-19 each year," she said.
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