Lebanon recorded 457 new coronavirus cases and three deaths over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Monday evening.

The new cases raise the country’s overall tally to 13,155, among them 3,684 recoveries, while the fatalities raise the death toll to 126.

Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini held talks Monday at the Baabda Palace with President Michel Aoun, during which he stressed that “Italy will stand by the Lebanese people in the new plight it is facing.”

The minister also demonstrated the assistance offered by Italy through its military ship San Giusto, which carried a field hospital to Lebanon in addition to a debris removal unit and experts in chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear weapons.

The Intelligence Branch of the Internal Security Forces early on Monday raided the place of residence in el-Amrieh of suspects involved in the Kaftoun crime, and arrested several others in the refugee camps in al-Kwashra, el-Bireh and Kherbet Daoud.

Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni is expected to sign a contract to hire specialists to conduct forensic audit of Lebanon’s central bank accounts to determine how massive amounts of money were spent in the nation plagued by corruption, media reports said on Monday.

Qatar is expected to dispatch its foreign minister to Beirut this week as part of diplomatic flurry flocking into Lebanon for assistance after the colossal Beirut blast early in August.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is expected to arrive in Beirut within two days to meet with senior Lebanese officials, al-Joumhouria daily reported Monday.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri confirmed Sunday that he has suspended his efforts regarding the government formation process.

“I did everything in my capacity as to the issue of forming a government, but it turned out that one hand cannot clap,” Berri said in an interview carried by the National News Agency.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for the removal of “all arms and explosives depots” from Lebanon’s residential areas, in the wake of the Beirut port blast that killed dozens, wounded thousands and devastated swathes of the capital.

“Let Lebanese authorities consider the Beirut port disaster an alarm bell and let them raid all arms and explosives depots and warehouses that exist illegally in the residential neighborhoods of cities, towns and villages,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.

The Joint Palestinian Security Force at the al-Beddawi refugee camp has handed over a man suspected of being involved in the Kaftoun crime to the Intelligence Branch of the Internal Security Forces, the National News Agency said on Sunday.

Relief efforts arrived to Lebanon on Saturday this time coming from Italy, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

An Italian military ship loaded with medical equipment and food products arrived in support of those affected by the Beirut port explosion.

Judicial investigator into the Beirut port blast Judge Fadi Sawan issued two new arrest warrants on Friday, the National News Agency reported.