The average number of new coronavirus infections reported each day in Mexico has decreased by more than 20,000 over the last three weeks, according to the Reuters COVID-19 tracker.

The seven-day average for daily case numbers was 16,817 after 18,309 new infections were reported Tuesday. That’s a 12% decline compared to a week earlier, a 35% reduction compared to February 8 and a 54% drop compared to the start of February.

January was the worst month of the pandemic for new cases with over 960,000 recorded as the highly contagious omicron strain spread rapidly. Mexico’s accumulated case tally is currently 5.43 million, of which 62,404 infections are estimated to be active.

The seven-day average for COVID-19 fatalities is currently 403, an 8% drop compared to a week ago and a 10% reduction compared to the start of the month. The official death toll is 316,492, the fifth highest total in the world.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that the intensity of the pandemic in Mexico had been on the wane for a month, asserting that there has been a “drastic reduction” in case numbers in all 32 states.

Half of the states are currently low risk green on the federal government’s stoplight map while the other half are medium risk yellow.

López-Gatell said that the national hospital occupancy rate in COVID wards didn’t exceed 50% during the entire fourth wave of the pandemic, a situation he attributed to the reconfiguration of hospitals to increase their capacity to treat COVID patients and the fact that the vast majority of the adult population is vaccinated.

The national vaccination rate among adults is over 90%, and no state has a rate below 70%, the deputy minister said. The coronavirus point man also said that 69% of adults aged 60 and over have had a booster shot.

Booster shots are currently being administered to younger adults, including those aged 18 to 29 who live in Mexico City.

Mexico News Daily