New coronavirus case numbers have risen in recent weeks in Baja California Sur (BCS) and Zacatecas, a senior health official said Monday.

Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía presented a graph at Monday night’s coronavirus press briefing that showed that new case numbers trended upwards in BCS for several weeks until the first week of August when they declined 8%.

However, as health authorities are still registering data for that week, case numbers may have in fact plateaued or even continued to trend upwards between August 2 and 8, Alomía said.

He noted that 15% of total estimated cases in BCS – 1,008 of 6,526 – are considered active whereas nationally fewer than 7% of total cases are active.

“That speaks of a recent and active epidemic in the state,” Alomía said.

BCS has recorded 266 confirmed Covid-19 fatalities, the lowest death toll among Mexico’s 32 states, and occupancy for both general care and critical care hospital beds is currently below 40%.

In Zacatecas, new coronavirus case numbers have increased steadily since late May, and spiked 14% in the first week of August compared to the last week of July.

Just over 18% of total estimated cases – 791 of 4,289 – in the northern state are considered active.

“It’s a level that is more than double what we see at the national level,” Alomía said.

Zacatecas has recorded 376 Covid-19 fatalities, the fifth lowest death toll in the country. Like BCS, occupancy for both general care and critical care beds in the state is currently below 40%.

Alomía urged residents of both BCS and Zacatecas to follow the instructions of authorities in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The health official reported earlier in the press conference that Mexico’s nationwide case coronavirus tally had increased to 525,733 with 3,571 new cases registered on Monday.

The number of new cases reported yesterday was the lowest single-day tally since June 15 when 3,427 cases were registered.

The Covid-19 death toll rose to 57,023 on Monday with 266 additional fatalities. It was the second consecutive day that fewer than 300 fatalities were reported after a six-day period during which more than 600 deaths were reported daily.

Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference on Tuesday morning, the government’s coronavirus czar said that there are positive signs with respect to the evolution of the pandemic in Mexico.

“Good news: the appearance of the epidemic in Mexico is now very positive, it’s in a clear phase of descent,” said Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell.

“The trend is clear. … In the majority of the country, daily case numbers are consistently decreasing,” he said, adding that Covid-19 fatality numbers have also been on the wane for more than six weeks.

López-Gatell also said that the number of coronavirus patients in the nation’s hospitals is decreasing.

His remarks come after the Health Ministry presented data on Sunday that showed that new coronavirus case numbers declined for three consecutive weeks between late July and early August.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp)