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.

The killing of Chad's president this week ended a three-decade reign of power.

Now his son has taken over in what many are calling a coup.

Chad's stability matters, not least because it's a reliable partner in quelling jihadist violence far beyond its borders.

And the squishy, filter-feeding sea cucumber is prized in China, both in foods and in traditional medicines.

We look at the very start of a supply chain, meeting a team of Sierra Leone and divers working under cover of darkness.

But first...

India reported a dark new record today, more than 314,000 new COVID infections in a 24-hour period, the largest jump by any country during the pandemic.

Harrowing scenes that were predicted long ago, then seemingly avoided, are now playing out.

We are definitely overburdened. We are already working at the full capacity, rather double of the

capacity. Yesterday, an oxygen leak at a hospital north of Mumbai

shut down ventilators for an hour.

As television cameras rolled, more than 20 COVID patients died.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains reluctant

to enact the kind of economically crippling lockdown he tried early on.

In fact, his party has encouraged in-person voting that continued today and has cheered on mass gatherings.

The rise in case numbers is truly staggering, and it's not clear that the measures only now being undertaken

can do much to stop it.

India has had 15 million COVID infections so far.

That means it's the second worst country in the world after the United States.

And right now, about 40% of all global cases are coming from India as the numbers drop in the US and elsewhere.

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