Hospitals in the state of Mexico recently took delivery of 100,000 bottles of Corona, but they weren’t filled with beer. 

As many large corporations are doing, the brewery has shifted production to help support medical staff on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic; the bottles with the familiar shape were filled with purified water. Ford México, the giant bakery firm Bimbo, and the resources company BHP have also contributed resources to support medical staff during the pandemic.

Beginning April 27, Ford’s Chihuahua plant will convert operations to produce 100,000 plastic face shields over the coming days, the company announced. The first 20,000 will go to Chihuahua, Sonora, Guanajuato and the state of México, regions where Ford has manufacturing plants. 

An additional 60,000 shields will go to the federal government to distribute as it sees fit, and 20,000 will be destined for countries in Central America where Ford also has plants.

Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bakery (which in February had to close its plant in Wuhan, China) is pledging some 200 million pesos (around US $8 million) toward support for medical staff and small businesses in Mexico. 

The aid package includes the distribution of 1 million face masks and 2.5 million box lunches to medical personnel around the country. 

Also, 70 million pesos will go to fund the temporary hospital erected in Mexico City’s Citibanamex Center, which has a capacity of 854 beds for patients with respiratory symptoms. 

Small businesses will receive financial incentives to keep them afloat, as well as 1 million cloth masks to protect employees.

Joining these efforts is BHP, the Australia-based mining and resources company whose global assets in 2019 were upwards of US $100 billion. 

The company has pledged US $100,000 in coronavirus aid. Half of the funds will go to the Mexican Health Foundation and used for training health professionals, converting hospitals to coronavirus units and research projects, among other efforts. 

The remaining US $50,000 will go to Cáritas Tampico, a non-profit in Tamaulipas that serves vulnerable communities in the southern part of the state, as well as in northern Veracruz. The funds will provide food and medications to those in need in that region. 

For its part, Corona will continue to provide 200,000 liters of drinking water to neighborhoods around Mexico City each week, which it has done since earlier this month. The company also pledged to continue working with the government on ways to support medical personnel.

Mexico currently has 9,501 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and has recorded 857 deaths; 2,627 people have recovered.

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