The federal Health Ministry reported 4,767 new coronavirus cases and 266 additional Covid-19 fatalities on Monday, increasing Mexico’s accumulated case tally to 443,813 and lifting the death toll to 48,012.
Of the confirmed cases, 28,741 are active, while there are also 79,030 suspected cases across the country.
Mexico City ranks first for total confirmed cases, with 75,383 as of Monday, followed by México state, where 54,093 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Four other states have recorded more than 20,000 cases. They are Tabasco, 22,523; Guanajuato, 22,009; Veracruz, 22,005; and Puebla, 20,448.
Just under half – 49% – of Mexico’s total confirmed cases were detected in the six states with the highest tallies.
Mexico City also leads the country for active cases, with an estimated 5,697. According to Health Ministry estimates, México state and Guanajuato rank second and third for active cases, with 3,836 and 3,162, respectively.
Four other states have more than 2,000 estimated active cases. They are Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León and Coahuila.
Federal data shows that 49% of all confirmed Covid-19 deaths occurred in just five states: Mexico City, which has recorded 9,032 fatalities; México state, 6,536; Veracruz, 2,831; Baja California, 2,655; and Puebla, 2,503.
The risk of coronavirus infection is currently classified as “red light” maximum in half of Mexico’s 32 states, according to the federal government’s “stoplight system,” and “orange light” high in the other half.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell suggested last week that state governors could face administrative and criminal charges if they failed to implement the recommended coronavirus mitigation restrictions that accompany each stoplight color.
The proposal angered some governors who have chosen to reopen their state economies according to their own criteria.
The governors appear to have got their way, reaching an agreement with the Interior Ministry on Monday that decrees that the federal “stoplight” system advice will serve only as a guide for the state leaders to help them make decisions to combat the pandemic.
In a private meeting, six governors and federal officials also agreed to look for ways in which pandemic-related dialogue between them can be improved.
The meeting occurred three days after the governors of nine states published an open letter demanding the resignation of López-Gatell, the federal government’s coronavirus czar.
The governors of Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas charged that López-Gatell’s strategy to combat the pandemic has failed and called for his “immediate departure.”
Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)
