By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered Friday record 98 new coronavirus deaths and 3,071 more cases, as authorities agreed on a four-stage plan to gradually reopen the country between Monday and late March.

The cases were detected among 15,351 tests. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 22.3 percent.

Among the newly recorded cases, only 13 were detected among travelers arriving in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry report, with the total number of cases since the virus was first detected in the country in late February rising to 315,340. The total number of fatalities stands at 3,495.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 2,287 patients were in hospital for COVID-19, with 920 in ICUs and 327 on ventilators.