The global coronavirus tally stands at 44.7 million cases and about 1.17 million deaths.

Europe, North America and Latin America account for over 66% of global cases and over 76% of global deaths.

Europe’s new daily infections have doubled over the past two weeks as it reported more than 250,000 cases for the first time on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally.

The region has so far reported about 9.5 million cases and about 261,000 deaths.

Workplace and individual health insurance plans will cover the COVID-19 vaccine as a preventive service, with no cost sharing. The requirement applies to the vast majority of private plans, which are mandated to cover approved preventive care under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act — even as the Trump administration is trying to overturn that law at the Supreme Court.

“Of the USD 8-billion pandemic fast track financing approved by our board in March, USD 4 billion have been committed to date, of which close to half is expected to benefit the people in the poorest countries,” Mengistu Alemayehu, IFC’s regional director for South Asia, said in a statement.

The scheme is being set up by the promoters of the COVAX vaccine facility, which is co-led by the WHO and GAVI, a global vaccine alliance, a COVAX document published on Thursday said. COVAX aims to distribute at least 2 billion effective shots around the world by the end of next year.

The scheme could foot the bill for 92 low-income countries, mostly in Africa and South-East Asia, meaning their governments would face little or no costs from claims brought by patients, should anything go unexpectedly wrong after a COVAX-distributed vaccine is administered.