The epidemic has spread like wildfire in India, with more than 300,000 cases confirmed in a single day for four consecutive days.The numbers are becoming more alarming by the day, breaking the previous global record for new diagnoses in a single day and continuing to break the record set the day before.Behind India's inability to cope is the mutation of the virus as a result of natural disasters, and the acceleration of its spread as a result of poor control.On April 25, India recorded 349,691 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, an increase of nearly 3,000 from the previous day, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

This has been the fourth consecutive day that India has more than 300,000 cases confirmed in a single day, more than 310,000 cases on April 22, more than 330,000 cases on April 23, more than 340,000 cases on April 24, and has once again broken the world's highest daily record.Meanwhile, there were 2,767 new deaths in the past 24 hours, an increase of 173 on the previous day and also a record high.

 1. The broken health care system

ndia's situation has taken the world by surprise.In addition to the number of cases, the death rate and the number of corpses continued to increase.Indian virologist Shahid Jamil told British media that the current mortality rate in India is 1.14 percent per 100,000 confirmed cases, which means that if 500,000 people are diagnosed, 5,700 people will die that day.

"India's health system is on the brink of collapse as nearly a million people are diagnosed in three days."India has reported 189,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of Monday, the BBC reported Tuesday.

• 2.Lax epidemic prevention and control
  

In a statement released recently, the prime minister's office cited a decline in enforcement of anti-epidemic measures such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance, a lack of awareness among the public due to "epidemic fatigue", and a lack of effective quarantine measures at the grassroots level and in the community.

India is not without efforts in epidemic prevention and control.At the beginning of this year, the rate of COVID-19 infections in India had been steadily declining, with the number of new cases falling below 10,000 a day and the average seven-day death dropping to less than 100.

But it is this turnaround in the epidemic situation that seems to have taken India by storm, with mass gatherings taking place one after another.Five Indian states have held elections since late February, leading to huge rallies.The number of new confirmed cases in India topped 200,000 for the third day in a row on April 16, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was campaigning in state assembly elections in West Bengal.

3.Dangerous virus mutation

Ripples in the bathtub, "is how the Nature report describes India's previous outbreak, in contrast to this one.

For India, besides the weakness of the health system and the lack of control, another key reason is the mutation of the virus.Some public health experts have speculated that the rapid spread of the outbreak may be linked to a "double mutation" virus called B.1.617.

The virus, known as B.1.617, carries two mutations, E484Q and L452R.An online report published on April 15 said 24 percent of patients infected with Novel Coronavirus in India in February and March were infected with the virus.According to Indian scientists, the "double mutant" virus could be more infectious and even have "immune escape" capabilities.