Coronavirus Watch: What's Veklury? FDA approves first treatment for patients in hospital

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment for COVID-19: remdesivir, also known by its brand name Veklury.

The drug had been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring. Now, it's approved for patients in the hospital.

Remdesivir is given through an IV and works to stop replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19, according to the drug's manufacturer, California-based Gilead Sciences Inc.

It's Friday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's the most significant news of the day, as of 1:45 p.m. ET:

• The U.S. reported more than 71,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins data. The last time daily cases exceeded 71,000 was during the summer surge in July.
• President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden sparred bitterly over the pandemic during the final debate. Trump claimed the virus would "go away" while Biden warned of a "dark winter."
• Pfizer is the only leading drug company that's producing a coronavirus vaccine to allow minors into trails. The company recently lowered the age of participation to 16, aiming to include at least 3,000 older teens.  
• New coronavirus restrictions in Chicago go into effect Friday for two weeks as the nation's third largest city fights a surge of COVID-19 infections. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a 10 p.m. curfew for all nonessential businesses and ordered bars and breweries without food licenses to shut down indoor service.
• More high school football fans will be allowed to attend games in open-air stadiums in some Louisiana parishes starting Friday.

12 states set new cases records in a week, according to a Paste BN analysis: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming, and also Guam. Wyoming on Thursday became one of the last states to reach 10,000 cases, with half of its infections reported in the last month, according to Paste BN analysis. Only New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont had less than 10,000 cases as of Thursday night.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 8.4 million cases and 223,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Globally, there have been more than 41.9 million cases and 1.1 million fatalities. See the numbers in your area here, and check out where cases are rising here.

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– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck