The Department of Health reported 3,749 cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Monday, which is the highest so far for this year and the most in a day since September last year.

The 3,749 new Covid-19 cases brings the total number of active cases in the country to 47,769. Since early March, the DOH report over 3,000 Covid-19 cases over three days, while the agency said there were over 2,000 cases on Tuesday and Wednesday.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the “underlying cause” of the spike in Covid-19 cases can also be attributed to the public’s failure to follow the minimum public health protocols. A recent survey of Octa Research also showed that 33 percent of individuals do not practice social distancing required to contain the spread of Covid-19. The group also warned that daily Covid-19 cases nationwide can reach 6,000 per day before the end of March.

The brighter side is the DOH reported 406 new recoveries, bringing the total number of Covid-19 patients who have recovered to 546,671. On the other hand, 63 Covid-19 patients died on Thursday, pushing the death toll of 12,608.

With Thursday’s figure, the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country has reached  607,048, which means active cases comprise 7.9 percent of total cases. Recoveries and deaths represent 90.1 percent and 2.08 percent of the total, respectively.

Furthermore, almost 96 percent of the active cases are either mild or asymptomatic.