Hospitalizations skyrocketed in more than a dozen countries in Europe, with admissions soaring beyond the peak reached last spring in a swathe from Austria to Portugal. In the U.S., where new daily cases topped a record 92,000 Friday, hospitalization rates have climbed 12% over the past month, with more than one in six inpatients in South Dakota having the coronavirus, government data show.
France, Germany and Belgium will clamp down on movement for at least a month, approaching the stringent lockdowns in the spring as Europe seeks to regain control of the crisis. France reported 49,215 new cases Friday, more than six times the level a month ago. The government plans to spend an additional 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) preparing hospitals for the disease, which President Emmanuel Macron said may cause 9,000 patients to fall critically ill by mid-November.

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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.