Omicron variant could become dominant in Europe by mid-January: EU chief

STRASBOURG: EU chief Urusula von der Leyen on Wednesday warned the Omicron variant of Covid-19 could become dominant in Europe next month, but insisted her 27-nation bloc had ample vaccines to fight the virus.

"If you look at the time it takes for new cases to double in number, it seems to be doubling every two or three days. And that's massive. We're told that by mid-January, we should expect Omicron to be the new dominant variant in Europe," von der Leyen told the European Parliament.