The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday said it had approved American and Swiss-developed Ronapreve for the emergency treatment of the coronavirus.

The drug may be used for people aged 12 and above, FDA Director-General Rolando Enrique D. Domingo told an online news briefing.

Ronapreve could cut the risk of hospitalization and death from the coronavirus by at least 70%, he said, citing the results of initial clinical trials.

The Department of Health (DoH) reported 10,670 coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to 2.64 million.

The death toll rose to 39,232 after 191 more patients died, while recoveries increased by 7,691 to 2.49 million, it said in a bulletin.

There were 118,203 active cases, 77.7% of which were mild, 13.4% did not show symptoms, 2.7% were severe, 5.15% were moderate and 1.1% were critical.

The agency said 57 duplicates had been removed from the tally, 42 of which were reclassified as recoveries, while 128 recoveries were tagged as deaths. Two laboratories failed to submit data on Oct. 6.

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