Philippines sees 20,310 more COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — Health authorities on Friday listed 20,310 new coronavirus cases, pushing the country's total to 2,040,568.

Today's figures also saw active cases up by 12,484 from the 146,510 on September 2. The Department of Health said six laboratories did not submit test results. 

• Active cases: 158,994 or 7.8% of the total


• Recoveries: 7,710, bringing the number to 1,847,701


• Deaths: 193, or now 33,873 in total

New jab allowed for adolescents

• The Philippine Food and Drug Administration allowed Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on adolescents between 12 to 17 years old. 


• Drug regulators also maintained the country's supply of Moderna is safe after reports of vial contamination in Japan. 


• Groups objected to the government's plan for a "memorial wall" to COVID-19 frontliners, saying officials should instead focus first on releasing health workers' long-delayed benefits. 


• The Philippine National Police told its Anti-Cybercrime Group to ramp up efforts against the selling of fake entry permits to foreigners and other falsified COVID-19-related documents.