The federal Health Ministry reported 10,794 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the second highest single-day tally since the start of the pandemic.

The only day on which health authorities reported a higher number of cases was October 5 when the tally increased by 28,115 due to a change in the methodology used to determine whether a person is infected.

With the almost 11,000 additional cases registered on Tuesday, Mexico’s accumulated tally rose to 1,060,152 – the 11th highest in the world.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía reiterated that the new cases registered weren’t detected in the preceding 24 hours.

Some of the infections occurred a month or even two months ago, he said, explaining that there is a significant lag between when tests are carried out and when their results are reported to the Health Ministry.

Therefore, the case numbers reported on a daily basis are not indicative of the current situation in the country, Alomía said.

The Health Ministry also reported 813 additional Covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday, lifting the official death toll to 102,739 – the fourth highest in the world. As is the case with the new infections reported, the additional deaths didn’t necessarily occur in the preceding 24 hours.

The Health Ministry estimates that there are currently almost 50,000 active cases across the country, more than 13,000 of which are in Mexico City. Nuevo León and México state, both of which have more than 4,000 estimated active cases, rank second and third, respectively.

Earlier on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that administration of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine – which was found in phase 3 trials to have a 95% efficacy rate – could begin in Mexico as soon as December.

Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, Ebrard noted that the companies submitted an application to the United States Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization on November 20.

He said Pfizer would submit a similar request to Mexico’s health regulatory agency Cofepris on Wednesday.

If approved for use in Mexico, the vaccine will be rolled out here in December, Ebrard said.

Pfizer would be responsible for transporting the vaccines – which have to be kept at -70 C – to the point at which they will be administered while the Health Ministry will be responsible for inoculation, the foreign minister said.

“[Health Minister Jorge] Alcocer has his vaccination plan ready. … It’s very good news for Mexico,” Ebrard said, adding that inoculation against the coronavirus here will in all likelihood begin shortly after it commences in the United States.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)