Covid - how worried should we be this time?

The Briefing Room

More than two years after the emergence of Covid, infection levels are high once again. The Office for National Statistics estimates that 2.7 million people, or 1 in 25 of us, have got Coronavirus. There’s concern too about new Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 – mutations which help the virus re-infect our bodies. But how worried should we actually be this time? Are the mutations normal or an alarming new development? And how much of a threat does Coronavirus still face to the NHS? Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are: James Gallagher, BBC Health and Science Correspondent Gideon Skinner, Head of Politics Research in Public Affairs at Ipsos Miriam Deakin, Director of Policy and Stategy of NHS Providers Meaghan Kall, Epidemiologist at the UK Health Security Agency Neil Ferguson, Head of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College, London. Producers: Tim Mansel, Kirsteen Knight and Simon Watts. Editor: Richard Vadon. Studio Manager: Rod Farquhar Production co-ordinators: Siobhan Reed & Helena Warwick-Cross