The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Mexico surged past 10,000 on Wednesday while the death toll from the disease is now approaching 1,000.
The federal Health Ministry reported 1,043 new Covid-19 cases at its Wednesday night press briefing, taking the total number of cases across the country to 10,544. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell also reported 113 new fatalities, taking the coronavirus death toll to 970.
The single-day increase in cases is the biggest since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico at the end of February while the daily death toll spike is the second biggest after the 145 fatalities reported on Tuesday.
Of the more than 10,000 confirmed cases, 3,618 are active, according to Health Ministry data, meaning that those infected currently have symptoms of Covid-19 and are considered contagious. Mexico City has the highest number of active cases with 1,085 followed by México state and Baja California with 584 and 300, respectively.
Mexico City also has the highest coronavirus death toll with 251 fatalities as of Wednesday. Baja California is second with 118 deaths followed by México state, Tabasco and Sinaloa, where 82, 60 and 59 people, respectively, have lost their lives to Covid-19.
While the case fatality rate is much higher among those aged 60 and over, López-Gatell warned that anyone can become seriously ill from Covid-19. Anyone with serious symptoms of the disease should seek medical care whether they are part of a vulnerable group of society or not, he said.
López-Gatell noted that up to 80% of Covid-19 patients who require respiratory support via a ventilator could die.
“In other words, of people who are critically ill, eight of every 10 could die during their hospitalization despite [receiving] medical treatment,” he said.
The health minister acknowledged, however, that there have been cases in Mexico in which patients have recovered even after being in critical condition for as long as several weeks.
In addition to the confirmed Covid-19 deaths, López-Gatell said that there have been a number of patients with symptoms of the disease who died before they were tested.
Mexico’s true coronavirus death toll is therefore likely well above 1,000. Based on confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 9.2 per 100 cases whereas the global rate is about 7.
However, the Health Ministry estimates that there are about eight undetected cases of Covid-19 for each confirmed one, meaning that the true fatality rate would be about 1.
Source: Reforma (sp)
