Morning mail: India’s Covid toll soars, snap flight ban attacked, EV battery swap scheme

Thursday: Crematoriums reportedly running out of wood as deaths pass 200,000. Plus: Josh Frydenberg rules out sharp pivots towards austerity' in May budget

Good morning. India's Covid nightmare continues to dominate the headlines, while Josh Frydenberg promises more budgetary stimulus, and a legend of the moon landing dies. These stories and much more, in Thursday's morning mail.

India's official death toll from the coronavirus has passed 200,000 after its worst day yet of the pandemic - recording 360,960 new cases, and with 3,293 deaths reported. The capital, Delhi, remains under lockdown, with crematoriums reportedly running out of wood and forced to assemble makeshift funeral pyres on public land. The real death toll is feared to be considerably higher, with authorities accused of skewing the data to downplay the scale of the tragedy. The B1617 variant that appears to be driving India's deadly second wave has been called a variant of interest", a lesser level than the variants of concern" from Brazil, the UK and South Africa.