Coronavirus updates: State reports over 49,000 new cases, 468 new deaths

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Friday the expansion of "the state's vaccination distribution network to help accelerate the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine" to residents under groups 1A and 1B, according to a release.

Thanks to this, essential workers and residents over the age of 75 can begin to make vaccination reservations at administration sites as early as next Monday, Jan. 11.

"Over the past week, we have seen hospitals increase their vaccination rates and I thank them for their efforts, but it's still not enough, so we're going to accelerate the distribution," Cuomo said.

Thousands of new providers statewide will help vaccinate health care workers, essential workers and individuals 75 and older.

"The federal government controls the supply, so as we continue to receive more, New York will not only ensure doses are distributed in the most fair and socially equitable way possible, but that health care workers continue to be prioritized so our hospitals remain safe and staffed," Cuomo added.

Group 1B, the largest group, is comprised of 3.2 million New Yorkers, including 870,000 education workers, 207,000 first responders, 100,000 public safety workers, 100,000 public transit workers and 1.4 million people 75 and older, the release states. All of these people will now be eligible to receive the vaccine. 

Prior to Cuomo's announcement, only the 2.1 million New Yorkers in group 1A were eligible to receive the vaccine.

The U.S. has surpassed 300,000 new daily COVID-19 cases for the first time, according to The COVID Tracking Project.

There were 310,080 new cases reported Friday. New Jersey and California both "greatly influenced" the surge in cases, the tracker said. New Jersey reported nearly 20,000 probable COVID-19 cases and California had over 50,000 cases.

Sixteen states also reported record COVID-19 hospitalizations this week, the tracker said: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Hospitalizations in California and Arizona in particular are increasing at an alarming rate, it noted.

A new study says Pfizer's vaccine is likely to work against the new, rapidly-spreading variants of COVID-19.

Dr. Pei-Yong Shi of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston told ABC News this is "the first study to show that one of the most prominent mutations in the fast-spreading UK and the South African strain ... doesn't affect the neutralizing activity of the current vaccine." 

Some of the antibodies produced by the vaccine "may be weakened by a single mutation, but others will remain active," he said, which he believes will continue to provide protection from the variants.

Although Shi only studied Pfizer's vaccine, he said the results "can be generated to the other vaccine platforms," including Moderna and AstraZeneca.

The vaccines “are all based on the same sequence of the spike protein,” he said, “so I will not be surprised that it will be it will be the same result." 

While the U.K. variant that’s been confirmed in several U.S. states appears to spread more rapidly, there’s no evidence that it’s more deadly.

ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

Florida State Rep. Mike Caruso, a Republican who represents Boca Raton, told ABC News he is concerned about people who attended the U.S. Capitol riot coming back to his district -- where there’s a high elderly population -- and spreading COVID-19. 

"I would ask them to quarantine when they do come back and to go get tested," Caruso said, adding that they should be tested before flying home.

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.