An A&E consultant has issued a dire warning about coronavirus, saying: "What's coming is extremely big."

The anonymous medic works on the front line at a south London hospital and fears the NHS could be "completely swamped" in the coming weeks.

The UK Government has a "falsely placed sense of optimism that it will all work out", he told Sky News.

"I'm aware of the Italian system, and I think in quite a few ways they are in advance of us in terms of resources and the intensive care beds they had available prior to this occurring," he said.

"So I think we may actually end up in a worse state than they presently are unless we take sufficient measures right now."

COVID-19 has been compared to the seasonal flu but the consultant says it's completely different and must be treated more seriously with mass testing an absolute requirement.

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He's calling for a "fairly strict lockdown" as the only way to get the number of UK cases under control.

He added: "We know what's coming, and we know what's coming is extremely big."

His colleagues will have to make difficult decisions concerning life and death, including allocating resources "only to those deemed most likely to survive", the medic continued.

When asked if his hospital has enough resources to treat the expected number of coronavirus patients, he replied: "The honest truth is no."

"The NHS isn't currently set up to ventilate a huge number of people," he said, adding that only some staff are trained to manage patients on ventilators.

He said hospital workers don't have enough protective equipment (PPE) either.

Italian hospitals are currently experiencing such an influx of cases that patients are having to be treated out in the corridors, and people with non-coronavirus medical problems aren't receiving the care they need.

People "don't stop having heart attacks, people don't stop having strokes, but the resources will not be there for them," the consultant said, adding that UK hospitals could look the same in the near future.

"[It's] actually quite horrifying to think that we could be completely swamped."

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