NEW DELHI, May 12 (TIWN): India's health ministry reported Wednesday the country's highest-ever number of deaths from COVID-19 in 24 hours.

By the numbers: The 4,205 virus fatalities confirmed in the past 24 hours take the official death toll past 250,000 since the pandemic began. The ministry reported 348,421 new cases as the official caseload surged past 23 million.  Yes but: Scientists and local health workers say the actual numbers are much higher. Crematoriums report they're inundated with bodies.  Of note: Officials in Bihar state, eastern India, told the Times of India Tuesday they had recovered 71 bodies of suspected coronavirus victims that had been found floating in the Ganges River in recent days.

India is dealing with daily new COVID cases well above 300,000, and a new variant, first detected in India, has been declared a global concern by the World Health Organization. Political blowback and calls for a nationwide lockdown are proliferating, even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had critical Facebook posts removed.   Axios Re:Cap discusses the difficult and deadly situation in India, the political tensions that continue to escalate, and the role of social media during the crisis with New York Times reporter Karan Deep Singh, who is based in New Delhi.