Global concern grows as COVID-19 variant ravages rural India

India's coronavirus death toll passed a quarter of a million people on Wednesday (May 12), in its worst 24 hours since the pandemic began, continuing to break national records and with no certainty over when it may peak.

We must warn you that there are disturbing images in this report.

Around 4,000 deaths are being registered each day in India, although many experts say the actual toll could be five to ten times higher. There are so many dead, that with cremation centers remaining overwhelmed -- resorting to burning in parking lots -- scores of bodies are also being found washed ashore in the River Ganges.

The bodies have been put in the river by family members, after some towns ran out of wood to keep the cremations going.

Part of the reason why experts believe the toll is so much higher than the official count is because so many are dying without a doctor on hand to register a death certificate. Even when a doctor is available, COVID isn't listed as the cause of death unless the the person was previously tested, and most aren't.