dr deepti gurdasani from queen _ stamped out. dr deepti gurdasani from queen marys _ stamped out.tamped out. dr deepti gurdasani from queen marys university in i from queen marys university in london, thank you very much. the organsiation representing hospital trusts in england has warned that it will take five years for some hospitals to catch up with the backlog of patient care caused by the coronavirus pandemic. nhs providers says covid—19 has resulted in the biggest backlog of care in england for 20 years. the chief executive of nhs providers, chris hopson, explained what he thinks could be done to improve the situation. well, i think it is going to be a very important and challenging task. what we have said today is that we need a plan, a team plan, between the nhs and government. on the nhs side, we are going to have to do do a range of different things. we're going to have to be bold and transformational. we're going to need to change the way that we provide some of this care. that's going to need the government to come up with some extra funding. in the past, you may remem

more than 70 cases have been identified in the uk — i asked dr deepti gurdasani how much of a threatn identified personally in india identified first in india towards the end of march and it seems to have two particular mutations of concern. one is quite similar to the one from the so—called south african variant, which we are concerned about in terms of vaccine effectiveness and there is another one which is potentially linked to increased transmissibility and also escape from immunity. what is really concerning is that in india over the past four weeks or so we have seen cases rise from 20,000 per day to over 200,000 per day, so that is over ten fold increase, and it may well be linked to this new variant, although we don't know at this time. wasn't this variant already present in the uk in february? yes, and that is the whole problem with having this idea of the red list, so we know this variant was present here even before it was identified in india and this is exactly the sort of thing we see, so surveillance of different countries are happening at different points in time and t

dr deepti gurdasani, clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at queen mary's university london, joinsnk you forjoining us here on bbc news. the first question i would really like to address this to what extent do you think this new variant is behind this surge in cases? i mean, i think there is a link to the new variant possibly because a lot of the population that we are seeing these surges and are thought to have had a high level of exposure to the virus. in delhi for example about 50-50% of virus. in delhi for example about 50—50% of people had antibodies but this is not equally disputed some communities will have the more than others but to seek a rapid rise of cases in a short period of time in communities that we think had antibodies but this is not equally disputed as some communities will have the more than others but deceived a rapid rise of cases in a short period of time in communities that we think have been exposed widely is really unusual. it’s that we think have been exposed widely is really unusual. it's been described as _ widely is really unusual. it's been described

let's speak now to dr deepti gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at queen mary university of london.roll—out in various european countries, what do you make of that? clearly, there has been a complicated and difficult story so far to tell, compared to the uk. ~ ., ., �* ~ the uk. well, i mean, i don't think it is necessarily _ the uk. well, i mean, i don't think it is necessarily more _ the uk. well, i mean, i don't think it is necessarily more complex i it is necessarily more complex compared to the uk. we need to remember that much of what we are seeing in europe now is as a result of the so—called kent variant, which has now spread through much of europe, so europe is now going through what we went through in december and january, because of the more delayed impact of the new variant. and this really highlights the huge risk and gamble of new variants across the world, in europe, india and brazil, and we saw it in south africa until recently, when restrictions were put in place to reduce cases, and it highlights the shape of the pandemic changing if we allow new variants to enter

we're joined now by epidemiologist dr deepti gurdasani.as a belief that india was doing ok in terms of delaying any second wave. why has this outbreak got to this level at this point? this why has this outbreak got to this level at this point?— level at this point? this is what unmitigated — level at this point? this is what unmitigated spread _ level at this point? this is what unmitigated spread in - level at this point? this is what unmitigated spread in a - level at this point? this is what i unmitigated spread in a pandemic looks like. all the world should looks like. all the world should look and learn. we had been seeing exponential growth from the end of february. cases were much lower. little was done to mitigate it. in the worst hit regions, regions were locked and only full six days. other regions do not have lockdown is in place. other places have responded by having curfews and night—time curfews. rallies were continuing in large numbers in many places. a lot of this is huge delay in acting in the face of exponential growth. u

to get reaction to all of those figures let's speak to dr deepti gurdasani, senior lecturer in clincicalgroups fairly quickly. it is interesting what you have to say about school—age children. have we been here before, with schoolchildren?- been here before, with schoolchildren? , ~ been here before, with schoolchildren? . ~ ., schoolchildren? yes, i think we have been here many. _ schoolchildren? yes, i think we have been here many, many— schoolchildren? yes, i think we have been here many, many times. i- schoolchildren? yes, i think we have| been here many, many times. i think the difference now is a large percentage of the population has received one dose of the vaccination. but unfortunately if we allow infections to rise in school—age children, it is likely to spread at least to the younger adults who haven't been vaccinated, who are not sufficiently protected, and we have also have the day to come out on loan covid today that suggest even young, healthy adults are very susceptible to long covid, and many people who were previously healthy now living with the long—term effects of th