By staff, Agencies

Lebanon registered 1,709 new coronavirus cases and 16 deaths Friday, as head of Rafik Hariri Hospital Dr. Firass Abiad announced that they had started increasing ICU capacities.

“Today RHUH inaugurates a new 10-bed COVID-19 ICU, four-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and a delivery suite,” Abiad said in a tweet.

According to the Health Ministry, there are currently 325 people in a critical condition.

Of the new cases, only six were detected among incoming travelers from abroad. There have been a total of 884 deaths since the virus was first detected in February.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan had announced Thursday that hospitals would be increasing their capacity to treat coronavirus patients.

The Health Ministry reported that a total of 12,116 PCR tests had been administered in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate of the tests in the last two weeks stood at 15 percent.

Public Health consultant Sara Chang said in a tweet that the World Health Organization’s office in Lebanon reported that 32 ICU beds and nine non-ICU beds had been added since the start of the full lockdown on Nov. 14.

A total of 64,695 people have now recovered from the disease, according to the Health Ministry.

Lebanon’s cases topped 2,000 Wednesday. Daily cases have exceeded the 1,000 mark over the last month. Authorities implemented a total lockdown Saturday to try to stem an alarming surge of coronavirus cases in the country.