The number of cases of Covid-19 reported daily in the UK has fallen for five days in a row - but experts have warned these figures need to be taken in the right context.
Any impact on the spread of the virus from children going back to school after the Christmas break, or from people returning to work after the new year, has yet to become clear.
The number of cases being reported each day has been disrupted by the Christmas and new year holidays, which in turn has added to a backlog of cases being announced.
READ MORE: Expert explains repeat covid infections and those who escape the virus
The day-on-day change in the total UK reported cases also masks changes in the separate nations and regions, with some areas of the country now behaving differently from others.
Here's everything we know so far about Omicron cases, hospital admissions and how the future could look.
New cases
Looking at the number of new cases by specimen date - when a person actually tested positive, rather than when the case was reported - the rate of new cases has continue to increase in England.
England is at a record high, with 1,924.4 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to January 4, as is Northern Island with 2,905.1 cases per 100,000 people.
But the latest figures for Wales and Scotland (2,380.5 and 2.026.4 respectively) are lower than in recent days.
Further differences are evident when looking at case rates for individual regions in England, with the North West, North East and Yorkshire all now seeing higher rates than London.
Of the top 10 highest local authority case rates in England, four are in Merseyside (Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Wirral).
The other six are also in the north of England (Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees).
Hospitals
A similar north-south divide is emerging in hospitals.
A total of 3,004 Covid-19 patients were in hospital in the north west of England as of 8am on January 9, the equivalent of 69% of the region's second-wave peak of 4,346 nearly one year earlier.
In north-east England and Yorkshire, 2,612 patients were recorded on January 9, or 67% of its second-wave peak of 3,891.
The percentages are much lower in other regions, however.
In London and the Midlands, hospital numbers are currently just under a half what they were at the peak of the second wave (49% and 48% respectively), while south-west England and eastern England are about a third (36% and 33%) and south-east England just 28%, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
Most regions have seen a week-on-week fall in hospital admissions, though the numbers have dropped only slightly and the long-term trend is not clear.
What is clear is that the number of Covid-19 hospital patients in England in mechanical ventilator beds remains low, with 704 recorded on January 9, down from 769 a week earlier and below the number on December 1 (773).
This reflects a major difference between the current wave and the wave that hit the UK one year ago.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, described the peak in January 2021 as one that saw hospitals "focused on expanding critical care for large numbers of very ill, often older people, needing serious lengthy treatment".
The current peak is "about expanding general and acute beds for large numbers of people with much milder disease symptoms", he tweeted on Saturday.
'Living with covid'
A new 'living with covid plan' is set to be announced by Boris Johnson, according to reports.
The Prime Minister is expected to reveal the plan for how the UK can live with the virus in the future, setting out what restrictions we will see in the months ahead.
According to iNews, the plan includes reducing isolation periods, with five days staying at home the current preferred model and winding down free lateral flow tests.
Plans for living with covid, expected to be announced in the UK, will set out where and when people should wear masks and when people should work from home.
They will also establish when people should take lateral flow and PCR tests, and will set out where and when covid passports should be used to access venues and events.
Future travel rules will also be established in the Government's next 'roadmap'.
The plan will also set out who has to have a mandatory vaccine - currently care workers and people who work on the front line in the NHS.
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