ROME — Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus leapt to nearly 200 on Friday while countries across Europe saw a surge in cases, with Serbia and the Vatican the latest to report their first infections.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said the fatalities rose to 197, from 148 a day earlier. The number of people infected shot up to 4,636 compared to around 3,800 on Thursday.

The outbreak is the worst in Europe and remains concentrated in the north of the country.

The number in intensive care — a closely watched figure as there are fears that hospital beds for critically ill patients may soon run out — increased to 426, from 351.

The head of the National Health Institute, Silvio Brusaferro, said health authorities in northern regions reorganized “in record time” and were for the moment still coping with patient numbers.

Another worry was infections among medical staff. Brusaferro said some “200 to 250” of them have tested positive or are under observation for possible contagion.

A count from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as well as other tallies, says the number of coronavirus cases around the world surpassed 100,000 on Friday.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization put its total number at 98,023, with the director general saying the world was “on the verge of reaching 100,000 confirmed cases.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is especially concerned that the COVID-19 disease is spreading to countries with weaker health systems that might fail to contain an outbreak.

Mainland China, where the virus emerged, along with South Korea, Iran and Italy have reported the most cases but it has also been seen in more than 40 other countries and territories.

A raft of cases were reported in Europe: Britain reported 48 more, taking its total to 163; Switzerland’s total more than doubled to 210; Germany now has 639 after a surge of cases on Friday; and France surpassed 600.

Schools continued to be the focus of coronavirus-linked safety efforts, as more nations mulled limitations in an attempt to halt the disease’s spread.

Croatia on Friday ordered all schools to delay any student trips across the country’s borders, in hopes of reducing the threat of coronavirus infection.

Croatia has confirmed 11 coronavirus patients so far. The country is near Italy and there is abundant two-way traffic in tourism, business and transit.

Italy has already shut down its schools through mid-March, mirroring actions in India and Japan. Many other countries are wondering if they should do the same.

France has closed schools in two particularly affected regions — one of which borders Germany.

Five schools in the greater Stockholm area were closed following reports that pupils, parents or teachers had contracted the new coronavirus.

One of the institutions was a high school with 1,200 students in the well-to-do municipality of Danderyd, just north of the capital.

The exclusive primary and secondary school attended by Swedish Princess Estelle, daughter to Crown Princess Victoria, closed Thursday after a pupil was reported infected. The palace has said the princess, 8, is fine.

The Stockholm region has reported 59 cases, while the national tally was 101 on Friday.

Iceland declared a state of emergency after identifying two cases thought to be the first contracted within the country with no link to international travel.

The country has 43 confirmed cases, most involving people who had travelled to Italy and Austria.

While much of the focus has been on young students, French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to people to minimize visits to elderly relatives.

“I know that it is sometimes a very painful decision, but we must avoid visiting our elderly relatives as much as possible,” Macron said after a visit to an old people’s home in Paris.

Older people and those with underlying health issues are more vulnerable to the pneumonia-like illness.

The Vatican confirmed the first case in the Holy See on Friday, in a patient who was tested in a clinic there.

In Serbia, Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar told a news conference that a 54-year-old man who had visited Budapest had an infection and was hospitalized in the northern city of Subotica.

And the Netherlands reported its first COVID-19 death on Friday, an 86-year-old man.

In Brussels, EU health ministers met for emergency talks to take stock of the coronavirus outbreak, which has spread to almost all of the bloc’s 27 member states. It was their second such meeting in just over three weeks.

Ahead of the meeting, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that member states should keep their borders open within Europe’s free-travel Schengen zone.

“It would be an important signal,” he said.

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