Mexico’s COVID-19 mortality rate is among the 20 highest in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Based on the federal government’s official death toll, Mexico has recorded 214.3 COVID fatalities per 100,000 people, a rate that is currently No. 19 worldwide.

Peru has the highest mortality rate with 612.4 COVID deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Bosnia Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Hungary and Montenegro. Ranking sixth to 10th are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Brazil, San Marino and Argentina.

Also above Mexico are Colombia, Moldova, Georgia, Slovakia, Paraguay, Belgium, Italy and Slovenia. One spot below Mexico with the 20th highest COVID-19 mortality rate is Tunisia.

Mexico’s case fatality rate is 7.6, meaning that 76 of every 1,000 people who have tested positive for COVID here have succumbed to the disease.

In other COVID-19 news:

• Mexico’s accumulated case tally rose to just under 3.61 million on Thursday with 11,808 new cases reported. The total is the 15th highest in the world.

The official death toll increased to 274,139 with 748 additional fatalities. Only the United States, Brazil and India have recorded more pandemic deaths than Mexico.

An average of 644 fatalities per day were reported during the first 23 days of September, an 8% increase compared to the daily average in August, the worst month of the pandemic for case numbers.

As spikes in COVID deaths typically lag increases in case numbers it is not surprising that fatalities have increased this month, even though seven in 10 Mexican adults have had at least one dose of a vaccine.

There are 67,949 estimated active cases across the country, a 2.5% increase compared to Wednesday.

• Just over 97.5 million vaccine doses have been administered after more than 730,000 were given Wednesday. About 70% of the adult population has received at least one shot but the vaccination rate among Mexico’s entire population is only around 50%.

President López Obrador said Wednesday that the government will offer vaccines to children with chronic illnesses and disabilities but there is no plan to extend the rollout to minors without underlying health conditions.

• México state Health Minister Francisco Javier Fernández Clamont said Thursday that his state is close to switching to low risk green on the stoplight map because indicators used to determine the stoplight color such as the positivity rate and the reproduction rate are trending downwards.

“We received a preliminary report yesterday, we’re still yellow but three points from reaching green,” he said.

México state only switched to yellow from high risk orange on Monday. It is one of 24 yellow states.

• More than 118,000 children have lost either their mother or father to COVID-19, according to estimates by the DIF family services agency. More than 86,000 boys, girls and adolescents have lost their father to COVID, a DIF study found, while over 32,000 have lost their mother.

The study also found that 124 minors were orphaned by COVID, with both their mothers and fathers succumbing to the disease.

With reports from Milenio