Hello and welcome to the intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Before the pandemic, there were about a million species in danger of extinction.

Now, many of them are under even more pressure.

We look into the causes of a troubling rise in wildlife poaching.

And researchers have long had a dream of using optical tricks to see around corners.

It's not easy, but the technology is coming along,

and a new experimental setup has taken pictures around a corner that's a kilometer and a half away.

First up, though. A new wave of COVID-19 is washing over India.

On Sunday, there were more than 68,000 new confirmed cases, the highest it's been since the first wave in the autumn. On the same day,

began wholly the Festival of Colors.

Indians tossed brightly colored powder and water balloons at one another to mark the beginning of spring.

But this year's celebrations were decidedly more subdued than usual.

So far, more than 12 million people in India have been infected with the coronavirus,

and the number of deaths has topped 160,000.

The fatality rate has been lower than expected,

but the speed of infections this time around has people worried.

And while the country's vaccination program is underway,

inoculating such a huge population will be a mammoth task.

It's slowly sinking in that this is a full-on second wave of the virus.

Max Rodenbeck is our South Asia bureau chief and is based in New Delhi.

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