Despite a record number of COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will not bring in new restrictions this year in England to limit the spread of Omicron, which now accounts for 90% of all community infections, according to health officials. Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, joins France 24 to offer perspective on the sharp rise of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. While Professor Openshaw acknowledges that it is almost too early to determine "whether we're going to be seeing some sort of plateau and then decline," he remains cautiously optimistic. Although the evidence is still out on the older and more vulnerable populations, this particular variant appears to be milder and less virulent. And so the professor has reason to believe that "there are some green shoots of hope."