Active coronavirus case numbers have increased over 50% in the space of a week and almost 140% in the past two weeks, official data shows.
There are 23,891 estimated active cases across Mexico, the federal Health Ministry reported Monday, an increase of 8,206 or 52% compared to a week earlier. Estimated active cases have increased 137% since May 23 when the tally was 10,073.
The Health Ministry said in a statement Monday that an average of 1,684 new infections was reported between May 29 and June 4, a 60% increase compared to the previous week. Confirmed COVID cases spiked in 20 states, the ministry said.
“An increase was recorded in Aguascalientes, Baja California, Campeche, Mexico City, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Sinaloa and Yucatán followed by Baja California Sur, Colima, Durango, México state, Guanajuato, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo and Veracruz,” it said.
On a per capita basis, Baja California Sur has the highest number of active cases with about 130 per 100,000 people. Mexico City – which leads the country for total active cases with over 7,400 – ranks second with about 80 followed by Sinaloa with just over 60 active infections per 100,000 residents.
Due to the national increase in numbers, the ministry said it would return to reporting COVID data on a daily basis. It has only provided weekly updates since late April.
The ministry said the increase has not resulted in a higher number of COVID-19 fatalities and hospitalizations.
Mexico’s official COVID-19 death toll was 325,000 on Monday, an increase of 146 compared to a week earlier. That means an average of just under 21 fatalities per day was reported in the seven-day period.
Only 3% of general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients are currently in use, while 1% of those with ventilators are occupied, the Health Ministry said.
It also reported that almost 209 million vaccine doses have been administered to 88.2 million people – about 70% of Mexico’s total population – since December 2020, when the first shots were given. More than 53 million booster shots have been given to adults.
The ministry said that 91% of adults are vaccinated but the rate is only 53% among adolescents aged 12 to 17. Children younger than 12 haven’t been offered shots.
Mexico ranks 76th in the world for population-wide COVID-19 vaccination coverage, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker. It ranks 15th in the Americas behind Chile, Cuba, Peru, Nicaragua, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Panama, United States, Venezuela and El Salvador.
Mexico News Daily
