Over the course of a single overnight shift this week, three new COVID-19 patients were rushed into Dr. Karim Debbat's small intensive care ward in the southern French city of Arles. His service now has more virus patients than during the pandemic's first wave, and is scrambling to create new ICU beds elsewhere in the hospital to accommodate the sick.

Similar scenes are playing out across France. COVID-19 patients now occupy 40% of ICU beds in the Paris region, and nearly a quarter in ICUs nationwide, as several weeks of growing infections among young people spread to vulnerable populations.

France was preparing Thursday for tighter coronavirus restrictions in several major cities, two days after a maximum alert protocol went into force in Paris.

New cases of coronavirus infections in Germany have soared past 4,000, official data showed Thursday, reaching a daily level not seen since April 11 when the country was still in lockdown.

Europe's biggest economy recorded 4,058 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, including 16 deaths, according to latest data compiled by the disease control agency RKI.

India has registered 78,524 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving the country's total since the pandemic began to 6.8 million.

The Health Ministry on Thursday also reported 971 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,05,526.

Almost two million babies are stillborn every year -- one every 16 seconds -- the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the Covid-19 pandemic could add another 200,000 deaths to the "devastating" toll.

With Europe topping six million coronavirus cases, Scotland and Brussels became the latest to introduce curbs on alcohol consumption Wednesday, while experts detailed the hugely divergent consequences of the pandemic for the world's richest and poorest.

The US Food and Drug Administration made public its guidance for issuing emergency approval for a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, making it clear it wants to see follow-up two months after trial volunteers have their second dose.

New curfews for bars and cafes, and tighter rules on social gatherings, were announced for Berlin, Frankfurt and across Belgium on Tuesday as authorities tackled virus spikes. 

Facebook on Tuesday removed a post by U.S. President Donald Trump for downplaying Covid-19 danger by saying the season flu is more deadly, in a rare step against the American leader by the leading social network.

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Trump has 'no symptoms' -