MANILA (UPDATE) — The Department of Health on Monday announced 414 new confirmed COVID-19 cases.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 patients in the Philippines to 3,660.

This is the second highest number of new cases reported in a day. The highest was 538, reported last March 31.

• READ: Philippines' COVID-19 cases climb past 2,000 mark

The DOH said there are also 9 new recovered patients, the most in a day, so far, and 11 new deaths.

In total, there are already 73 recoveries and 163 COVID-19 fatalities.

The Philippines' main island of Luzon has been on lockdown since March 17, in a bid to stem the new coronavirus outbreak. Public transportation and other services were suspended while physical distancing regulations were imposed.

Experts said it is still difficult for now to see the effects of the enhanced community quarantine because of the backlog on COVID-19 tests. With the arrival of new test kits, new COVID-19 cases in the Philippines have gone up by the hundreds per day in the last two weeks.

The DOH said it needs to wait until the testing situation stabilizes to better assess the spread of the virus in the country.

As of Monday, more than 1.2 million people across the world have been infected by the new strain of coronavirus. Of that number, more than 260,000 have recovered and almost 70,000 have died.

There is still no cure or vaccine for COVID-19, although there are several clinical trials on off-label drugs that can be used to treat the disease that originated from China.