(Matthew Perron/ CTV News) — Britain granted conditional authorization on Thursday to the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19 so far. It also is the first country to OK the treatment from drugmaker Merck, although it wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the pill would be available.

The pill was licensed  …

(Rebecca Robbins/ New York Times) — The drug maker Merck said on Friday that its pill to treat Covid-19 was shown in a key clinical trial to halve the risk of hospitalization or death when given to high-risk people early in their infections.

The strong results suggest that a new wave of effective and easy-to-use treatments  …