President Rodrigo Duterte's economic team is counting on the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the total lifting of quarantine restrictions to propel a record economic growth of 8-10% by 2022 – a stark recovery from the steep 8.5-9.5% fall this year.

Metro Manila residents continued to suffer record unemployment rates, accounting for over 700,000 people without work. The Philippine Statistics Authority says limited public transport as well as existing quarantine rules kept Filipinos from finding jobs and reporting to work.

Singapore has granted San Francisco start-up Eat Just Inc. regulatory approval to sell its laboratory-grown chicken in the city-state, the world's first government to allow the sale of cultured meat.