COVID-19 updates: 70% of American adults fully vaccinated

The United Kingdom has authorized Merck's COVID-19 treatment, becoming the first country in the world to do so.

Clinical studies suggest Merck's COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir, may reduce the ability of the virus to multiply in the body, thereby preventing hospitalization or death in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

The UK's Medicines + Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the antiviral drug was found to be safe and effective following a stringent review of the available evidence.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou

Nearly 100 million U.S. workers will be required to get the COVID vaccine by Jan. 4, with some workers allowed to test weekly instead, under sweeping federal rules released Thursday by the Biden administration that identifies COVID-19 as an occupational hazard.

The regulations are aimed at health care workers and businesses with 100 or more employees, covering two-thirds of the nation’s workforce. Businesses that don’t comply could be fined $14,000 per infraction and hospitals could lose access to Medicare and Medicaid dollars.

Biden’s plan also gives federal contractors an extra month to comply, sliding a previous Dec. 8 deadline set by the administration. Federal workers are still required to be vaccinated by Nov. 22.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

Vaccines.gov is not yet live with appointments for children, but White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients says the site will be up and running Friday.

"You need to get the vaccines to those sites," he said at a Wednesday White House briefing. "Over the next 24 hours alone there will be millions more doses in the air and on trucks heading to cities and towns across the country. From Bar Harbor, Maine, to Anchorage, Alaska, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Packing and shipping will continue over the weekend and into next week, with doses arriving at thousands of vaccination sites in every state, tribe and territory."

CVS said it will offer the pediatric vaccine at "nearly 1,700" pharmacy locations across 46 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., beginning Nov. 7.

Parents can start scheduling CVS appointments online now.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

Health officials in Colorado are growing increasingly concerned as the state's daily case rate has more than doubled in the last month. 

Nearly 200 COVID-19 patients are being admitted to hospitals each day -- the highest number of people seeking care since December 2020, according to federal data.

There are currently more than 1,300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across Colorado, the majority of whom -- 80% -- are unvaccinated, according to state data.

With the statewide hospital capacity falling under 10%, Gov. Jared Polis has signed a "particularly urgent" executive order that would permit the state's health department to order hospitals to transfer or stop admitting patients after reaching or nearing capacity. 

Federal data show just 61.7% of the state's total population is fully vaccinated.

-ABC News' Arielle Mitropoulos