Covid-19 has been far more lethal than organized crime over the past three months, statistics show.
Federal Health Ministry data shows that 18,310 people lost their lives to Covid-19 between March 18 – the date the first coronavirus fatality was reported – and June 16.
In the same period, 7,313 people were murdered, according to Security Ministry statistics. The number of people killed by Covid-19 is 150%, or 2 1/2 times, higher than the number of people murdered.
According to the newspaper Milenio, the number of Covid-19 victims exceeded that of homicide victims on May 3. By that date, 3,949 people had lost their lives to the virus, while 3,937 people were murdered between March 18 and May 3.
Since May 3, 14,361 Covid-19 deaths have occurred and 3,376 people have been murdered. In other words, for every homicide victim in Mexico between the beginning of May and the middle of June, there were more than four Covid-19 fatalities.
In Mexico City and México state, the federal entities most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, there were more than five Covid-19 fatalities for every murder in the three-month period between the middle of March and the middle of June.
In contrast, homicides in Mexico’s most violent state, Guanajuato, occurred at a rate of about six for every one Covid-19 fatality in the period.
Mexico’s official Covid-19 death toll has almost doubled since the end of the national social distancing initiative at the end of May, although not all of the 8,380 fatalities reported so far this month actually occurred in June. Delays in confirming and reporting Covid-19 fatalities mean that some are not included in the official death toll for days, weeks or even months after they occurred.
Still, the growth in the death toll and case numbers this month has caused alarm and led some people to conclude that Mexico is taking steps to reopen its economy too soon. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell warned this week that the pandemic won’t “won’t end soon,” while he said last week that the peak contagion period might not occur until July.
The Health Ministry reported 730 additional Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, breaking a streak of three days on which fewer than 500 fatalities were registered.
In addition to the 18,310 confirmed Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic, 1,779 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by the disease.
The Health Ministry also reported 4,599 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, increasing Mexico’s cumulative tally to 154,863. Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said that 21,159 cases are considered active, meaning that number of people tested positive after developing coronavirus symptoms in the past 14 days.
Alomía said that the results of 56,843 tests are not yet known and that a total of 428,563 people have now been tested.
Just over half of Mexico’s active Covid-19 cases are concentrated in just six states, each of which has more than 1,000 cases. They are Mexico City, which has 3,895 active cases; México state, with 2,481; Tabasco, with 1,089; Puebla, with 1,082; Jalisco, with 1,080; and Guanajuato, with 1,028.
Health Ministry data shows that just over half of Mexico’s Covid-19 deaths have occurred in just four states, each of which has recorded more than 1,000 fatalities. They are Mexico City, where 4,821 people are confirmed to have lost their lives; México state, which has recorded 2,109 fatalities; Baja California, with 1,594 deaths; and Veracruz, with 1,091.
Based on confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is 11.8, much higher than the global rate of 5.4.
Around the world, more than 444,000 people had lost their lives to Covid-19 as of Wednesday morning, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University, and just over 8.2 million people have tested positive. Mexico currently ranks seventh for fatalities and 14th for case numbers.
Source: Milenio (sp)
