The World Health Organization (WHO) is in talks with India about joining the "COVAX" global vaccine allocation plan, a senior WHO adviser said.

"India is certainly eligible, like all countries in the world, to be part of the COVAX facility and discussions are ongoing in that regard," Bruce Aylward told a briefing in Geneva.

"We would welcome Indian participation," he said, reports the Times of India.

The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, aimed at helping to buy and distribute vaccination shots against the novel coronavirus fairly around the world.

But some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join COVAX.

India has become the second worst-hit country by the pandemic on Monday as urban metro trains partially resumed service in the capital New Delhi and other states as the government pushes to sustain a weakened economy, reports AP.

The South Asian country reported 90,802 cases in the past 24 hours that pushed India’s total past Brazil with 4.2 million cases.

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