Covid-19 deaths increased 35% in the first 16 days of January compared to the last 16 days of December while new case numbers rose 28%, federal data shows.
The Health Ministry reported 14,434 fatalities attributable to the infectious disease between January 1 and 16, an increase of 3,726 deaths compared to the 10,708 registered between December 16 and 31.
An additional 463 fatalities were reported Sunday, lifting Mexico’s official Covid-19 death toll to 140,704.
A daily average of 876 fatalities was reported in the first 17 days of January, meaning that Mexico is likely to record more than 27,000 deaths this month. That would make January the worst month of the pandemic in terms of deaths. December was the deadliest month to date with 19,867 fatalities.
New case numbers are also on track to hit a new monthly high in January. The Health Ministry reported 204,164 in the first 16 days of the month, 45,272 more than in the final 16 days of last year when 158,892 cases were registered.
An additional 11,170 cases were reported Sunday, pushing Mexico’s accumulated tally to just over 1.64 million. A daily average of 12,667 cases was reported in the first 17 days of January, meaning Mexico could record more than 392,000 cases this month.
That figure would represent an increase of about 25% compared to December, when a monthly record of 312,551 cases was set. The single-day record for case numbers has been broken six times this month, most recently on Friday when 21,366 cases were reported. That new peak was almost matched on Saturday when health authorities reported 20,523 cases.
Mexico City leads the country for both Covid-19 deaths and cases with 25,002 of the former and 407,254 of the latter.
Maximum risk red on the coronavirus stoplight map since December 19, the capital has been Mexico’s coronavirus epicenter since the start of the pandemic and its outbreak has worsened considerably in recent weeks. Hospital occupancy across the Mexico City health system is currently 88%, according to local authorities.
Almost 7,000 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized in the capital including 1,799 on ventilators. A new daily record for calls to 911 was set on Friday, providing more evidence of the gravity of the situation. The emergency service fielded 787 calls, and that figure was almost matched on Saturday with 737 calls.
A total of 603 ambulances were dispatched during the two-day period, and 114 people were taken to hospitals in the capital.
México state, which includes many municipalities that are part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, is also facing a difficult coronavirus situation. It ranks second among the 32 states for both Covid-19 deaths and cases with 16,279 of the former and more than 168,000 of the latter as of Sunday.
México state currently has a hospital occupancy rate of 84% for general care beds. It is one of seven states with an occupancy level above 70%. The others are Mexico City, 88%; Guanajuato, 86%, Hidalgo, 81%; Nuevo León, 79%; Puebla, 78%; and Nayarit, 72%.
Five of those seven states are currently red on the stoplight map while Puebla and Nayarit are high risk orange. As of Monday there were 10 red light states across the country (Morelos, Coahuila, Jalisco, Querétaro and Tlaxcala are also at the maximum risk level) and 19 high risk orange ones.
Chiapas and Chihuahua are the only yellow light medium risk states while Campeche is low risk green.
There are 108,550 active coronavirus cases across the country, according to Health Ministry estimates, while almost 469,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have been administered since Mexico’s vaccination program began on December 24.
Mexico News Daily
