There is a "very high" risk the Omicron variant of Covid-19 will become dominant in Europe by early next year and lead to a growing number of hospital admissions and deaths, the European Union's public health body said on Wednesday.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a report that the Omicron variant of concern (VOC) was likely to overtake Delta within the first two months of 2022...