The northern cities of Saltillo and Monterrey currently have the largest active outbreaks of coronavirus among Mexico’s more than 2,400 municipalities, according to Health Ministry data.
The state capitals of Coahuila and Nuevo León, respectively, both currently have 699 active cases.
Mérida, Yucatán, ranks third for active cases with 688 followed by the cities of Puebla and San Luis Potosí, where there are 640 and 627 people, respectively, who currently have coronavirus symptoms.
At the state level, Mexico City has the highest number of active cases with 5,899, according to Health Ministry estimates. México state ranks second with 3,488 estimated active cases.
Guanajuato, Nuevo León and Coahuila rank third to fifth, respectively, with more than 2,000 estimated active cases in each state.
Chiapas has the fewest number of estimated active cases, with just 120.
Across Mexico, the Health Ministry estimates that there are 37,965 active cases.
It reported Tuesday that Mexico’s accumulated confirmed case tally had increased to 568,621 with 4,916 new cases registered.
Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía told the nightly coronavirus press briefing that 97,632 health workers – a figure that represents 17% of total confirmed cases – have tested positive for the virus.
Mexico City, México state and Tabasco have recorded the highest number of infections among medical personnel.
The Health Ministry also reported that the country’s Covid-19 death toll had increased to 61,450 with 650 additional fatalities.
Mexico City has the highest death toll among the states with 10,253 confirmed fatalities as of Tuesday. México state ranks second for Covid-19 deaths with 7,740 followed by Veracruz, Puebla and Baja California, each of which has recorded more than 3,000 fatalities.
Among municipalities, Puebla city has the highest Covid-19 death toll, with 1,776 confirmed fatalities. The Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa ranks second with 1,644 deaths followed by Mexicali, Baja California, where 1,443 people have lost their lives to the disease.
Based on confirmed cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 10.8 per 100 cases, the highest rate among the 20 countries currently most affected by Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.
While authorities are widely believed to be undercounting both coronavirus cases and deaths due to a low testing rate, official data for the latter is undoubtedly closer to the real figure than data for the former. Therefore, Mexico’s real case fatality is certainly much lower than 10.8.
The Covid-19 testing rate has declined recently, leading some experts to claim that it is a factor in the recent reduction in case numbers.
But Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell reiterated Tuesday that fewer tests have been performed recently because fewer people have presented with symptoms of the disease.
Testing in Mexico has mainly been targeted at people with serious coronavirus-like symptoms, meaning that the vast majority of mild and asymptomatic cases don’t show up in official data.
Also on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced that a public-private partnership will provide funding for 19 Mexican projects that are aiming to develop vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.
He said the Mexican Agency for International Cooperation Development, private foundations and foreign entities will provide resources to projects being carried out at universities including the National Autonomous University and the National Polytechnic Institute.
Ebrard also announced that Mexico will participate in the clinical trials of vaccines developed in Russia and Italy.
He said that 2,000 Mexican volunteers will participate in phase three trials of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine while two vaccines developed by Italy’s Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases will also be tested here.
Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)
