Mexico recorded its biggest single-day increase Friday in both coronavirus-related deaths and confirmed cases of the contagious disease, Health Ministry data shows.

The death toll increased by 39 to 233 while the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rose by 403 to 3,844. Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía also reported that there are 10,300 suspected coronavirus cases and that 19,749 people have tested negative.

A total of 33,893 people have now been tested in Mexico for the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, late last year and which has now infected more than 1.7 million people around the world and killed more than 100,000, according to data compiled by the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Alomía said that the number of Covid-19 cases being reported globally is on the wane but figures for the Americas are on the rise.

The number of confirmed cases in Mexico more than doubled between Friday of last week, when 1,688 cases were reported, and yesterday. Deaths almost quadrupled in the same period from 60 to 233.

Alomía said that 68.2% of people confirmed to have Covid-19 did not require hospitalization while the remainder did. Of those currently hospitalized, 675 are in serious condition and 147 others are in critical condition on ventilators, he said.

The epidemiologist said that 42% of people confirmed to have Covid-19 in Mexico – more than 1,600 – have now recovered from the disease.

Mexico City has now reported 1,040 Covid-19 cases, more than double the number in México state, which ranks second with 470 confirmed cases. Baja California, Puebla and Sinaloa follow, with 258, 214 and 171 cases, respectively.

With regard to coronavirus-related fatalities, Alomía said that 134 people aged 25-59 have died and that the other 99 deaths were of people aged 60 or older. The fatality rate among the former cohort is 4.8 per 100 confirmed cases while among the latter it is 13.3. Mexico’s overall coronavirus fatality rate is 6.1.

Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are the most common existing health conditions among those who have died.

Mexico City has recorded 46 deaths – one-fifth of the total – while 17 patients with Covid-19 have died in Baja California, 16 in México state, 15 in Puebla and 13 in Quintana Roo.

Only two of Mexico’s 32 federal entities had not recorded a single coronavirus-related death as of Friday: Aguascalientes, where there are 53 confirmed cases, and Colima, which has just seven.

Source: La Jornada (sp)