MANILA, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported 288 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,837,903.
The DOH also reported that 65 more people died from COVID-19 complications, bringing the country's death toll to 50,981.
As many as 11 laboratories failed to submit data, and two were non-operational, according to the department.
The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency approval to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 5 to 11.
As of Dec. 22, the Philippines has administered over 101 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, with more than 45 million people fully vaccinated.
The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested more than 23 million people since the pandemic. Enditem
