Mexico’s coronavirus case tally passed 90,000 on Sunday while the death toll is approaching 10,000.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell reported that 90,664 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 3,152 compared to Saturday.
He said that 16,962 cases are considered active, 476 more than the number reported a day earlier.
Mexico City has more than 4,000 active cases and just over 2,000 people in México state tested positive for Covid-19 after developing symptoms in the past 14 days.
The Valley of México metropolitan area, which includes the capital as well as several México state municipalities, continues to be the nation’s coronavirus epicenter.
The country’s third biggest active coronavirus outbreak is in Tabasco, where there are 802 cases. The next biggest outbreaks are in Puebla, Chiapas, Baja California and Jalisco.
In addition to the confirmed cases, there are 36,803 suspected cases of Covid-19 across Mexico while just under 275,000 people have now been tested for the disease.
López-Gatell said that the death toll had risen to 9,930 with 151 new fatalities registered by the federal Health Ministry on Sunday.
An additional 788 deaths are suspected to have been caused by the coronavirus but have not yet been confirmed.
Based on the number of confirmed cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 10.9 per 100 cases, much higher than the global rate of 6.
Mexico City has the highest death toll in the country, having recorded 2,658 fatalities – 27% of the country’s total – as of Sunday.
More than 1,100 people have lost their lives to Covid-19 in neighboring México state, while Baja California has the nation’s third highest death toll with 865 fatalities.
López-Gatell said that 41% of general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients are currently occupied while 36% of those with ventilators are in use.
The government’s national social distancing initiative officially concluded on Saturday but the deputy minister stressed that Mexico’s epidemic has not ended and that measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus are still needed.
Every state except Zacatecas was allocated a “red light” on the federal government’s stoplight system to determine which coronavirus restrictions can be lifted and where, meaning that bans on nonessential activities remain in place in the vast majority of the country.
“June 1 is not a return to normality,” López-Gatell said, explaining that there are still restrictions on economic, social and educational activities.
“I emphasize it because it’s essential that society know that the danger persists and that the entire republic with the exception of Zacatecas has a red light,” he said.
López-Gatell said that state authorities, “with the support and technical advice of the federal Health Ministry,” will be responsible for taking the necessary decisions to limit the spread of Covid-19 within their borders.
Amid concerns that the termination of safe social distancing might have come too soon, the deputy minister on Saturday defended the move. He said when the program began the transmission of Covid-19 was widely scattered around the country, requiring “widespread national intervention.”
López-Gatell said that is no longer the case and regional management at the state level is now more appropriate.
However, the fact that 31 states are labelled red — at maximum risk — would indicate that the challenge remains national in nature.
After the federal government uncovered its stoplight map on Friday, the governors of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Durango, Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas voiced their dissatisfaction with the red lights they were allocated.
Source: El Universal (sp), Reforma (sp), El Financiero (sp)
