当地时间23日，印度报告的单日新增新冠确诊病例数超过了33万例，创下自疫情暴发以来，印度国内和全球单一国家单日确诊病例数的最高增幅。
截至当地时间4月23日8时，过去24小时内，印度新增新冠肺炎确诊病例332730例，累计确诊16263695例；新增死亡病例2263例，累计死亡186920例；累计治愈13648159例；现存确诊病例2428616例。自19日晚开始，印度首都新德里实施为期一周的“封城”。
连日暴增的病例让印度首都新德里和马哈拉施特拉邦等多地病床、医用氧气和药品等医疗资源短缺。
A deserted Connaught Place market district in New Delhi, April 20, 2021. The Indian capital imposed a week-long lockdown starting April 19, 2021. /CFP
此前，印度政府在社交媒体上发出求助信号，称大型政府医院的氧气仅够维持8至24小时，而一些私人医院的氧气仅够维持4到5小时。
为买到氧气，印度民众被迫涌向*市黑**，氧气价格一路飙升。10升的氧气瓶售价从原来的4500卢比（约合人民币387元），上涨到了最高3万卢比（约合人民币2579元）。而原本4000卢比（约合人民币344元）的抗病毒药物瑞德西韦注射剂在*市黑**上也涨到了一针3万卢比（约合人民币2579元）。
除了近乎饱和的病床和紧缺的氧气，印度居高不下的单日新增死亡病例数也让多个城市的火葬场不堪重负，甚至连场地和木柴都出现了短缺。
据路透社报道，印度古吉拉特邦火葬场内的煤气炉和柴火炉已经连续工作了很长一段时间，设备上的金属零件甚至都已经开始熔化。
Funeral pyres of people, who died from the coronavirus disease, are pictured at a crematorium in New Delhi, India April 21, 2021. /Reuters
India on Wednesday reported more than 330,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day, the highest increase since the outbreak in India and any single country in the world.
The raging numbers of COVID-19 cases have stretched the country's long-underfunded health system to the limit as reports of shortages of hospital beds, fresh oxygen supplies, essential medication and vaccination come from across India. On Wednesday, at least 24 COVID-19 patients on life support died after they lost oxygen supply due to a leak in a hospital in Nashik city of India's western state of Maharashtra.
Moreover, the high number of new COVID-19 deaths in India has overwhelmed crematoriums in many cities, leaving them short of space and firewood.
病毒变异或加剧疫情
印度眼下面临的困境，有可能与在该国发现的新冠病毒“双重变异”变种有关。大流行持续至今，目前在印度流传的新冠病毒中，有的已经经过了不止一次变异。
B.1.617病毒就是一种“双重变异”的新冠病毒，于去年10月5日在人口密集的印度中部城市那格浦尔被发现。
世界卫生组织(WHO)的一名官员在上周五表示，由于其包含的特定突变，可能导致B.1.617病毒病毒“传播性增加”，甚至“中和性降低”。
印度卫生部最近也发布了一份官方声明，称这种变异病毒可能会增加感染率，并绕过免疫防御。
The unprecedented spread of the virus has been partly blamed on a more contagious "double mutant" COVID-19 variant that has emerged in India. The variant, known as B.1.617, first appeared in India on December 7, 2020, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG). It has two specific mutations – E484Q and L452R – that have been detected in more contagious variants worldwide.
"Having two of these mutations which have been seen in other variants around the world are concerning, because there's a similarity in these mutations that confer increased transmissibility, and some of these mutations also result in reduced neutralization, which may have an impact on our countermeasures including the vaccines," a World Health Organization (WHO) official said on last Friday.
The World Health Organization has warned that the new variant of the virus could have a global impact on countermeasures such as vaccine exports, considering India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer.
The Indian Health Ministry recently issued an official statement, saying the variant could increase infection rates and bypass immune defenses.
政治和宗教活动成为“超级传播者”
除了变异病毒传染性增强的可能性以外，印度防疫措施的松懈 也加速了病毒的传播。
自从2020年解除全国*锁封**以来，十胜节、排灯节、洒红节、大壶节等印度全国性大规模节日庆祝活动依次展开，其中大壶节因每次聚集的人口以百万计，被称为世界上最大的宗教*会集**之一。于此同时，印度西孟加拉邦、阿萨姆邦等5个邦和中央直辖区正在举行地方议会选举，竞选活动众多。
在这些人群大量聚集的场所，许多人并没有佩戴口罩。
People play with colorful powders during the Holi festival. Holi is a popular Hindu festival of colors celebrated to mark the beginning of spring, Kolkata, March 29, 2021. /CFP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has come under scanner for lax attitude in allowing mass gatherings for election campaigns, religious festivals such as Holi and Kumbh Mela, and cricket matches against England, which led many to falsely believe in recent months that India had defeated the virus.
Millions have taken dips in the Ganges river in the northern Indian city of Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela Hindu festival, which is now being described as a "super-spreader" due to thousands of cases reported among the pilgrims. This has baffled many sparking an outrage at the government.
Meanwhile, Modi and his key lieutenant in the government, Home Minister Amit Shah have held scores of massive election rallies and roadshows in several states, and particularly in West Bengal, in recent months, despite reports of the surge in COVID-19 cases.
外交部：中方愿提供必要的支持和帮助
22日下午，有记者在外交部例行记者会上就印度新一轮的疫情大暴发提问，询问中方对此有何行动？
外交部发言人汪文斌表示，新冠肺炎疫情是全人类共同的敌人，国际社会需要团结一心共同抗疫。中方注意到近期，印度国内疫情形势严峻，并出现暂时的防疫必要物资短缺情况，我们（中方）愿为印方控制疫情提供必要的支持和帮助。
23日，外交部发言人赵立坚在例行记者会上表示， 中国政府和中国人民坚定支持印度政府和人民抗击疫情，愿根据印方需求提供支持与帮助，正就此同印方保持沟通 。
China on Friday reaffirmed its promise to help India combat COVID-19, and the two sides are currently discussing the matter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a daily press briefing.
"Help will be provided according to the needs of the Indian side," he said.