More people are leaving their homes more regularly even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen: the number of new Covid-19 cases recorded yesterday was the highest ever.
Ricardo Cortés, general director of health promotion at the Health Ministry, presented cell phone data at Tuesday night’s coronavirus press briefing that showed that mobility increased in 27 of Mexico’s 32 states in the week to May 14 compared to the previous week.
Compiled by the National Council of Science and Technology using information from Google, Facebook and Twitter, the data showed that mobility increased by more than 3% in 14 states, while it rose by 3% or less in 13 states.
Aguascalientes recorded the biggest increase, with mobility levels spiking 11% in the second week of May.
“What this could mean in terms of the local epidemic in Aguascalientes is an increase in the number of cases or vital activity in the near future,” Cortés said.
Baja California Sur and Colima recorded the next biggest increases, with people’s movement up by just over 8% in both states. The other states where mobility increased by more than 3% in the second week of May were Michoacán, Baja California, Durango, Morelos, Sonora, Hidalgo, Chihuahua, Yucatán, Nuevo León, Tabasco and Campeche.
The only states where mobility decreased in the second week of May compared to the previous week were Querétaro, Zacatecas, Tlaxcala, Puebla and Nayarit. However, the decreases were minimal, ranging from 1% in Querétaro to 4% in Nayarit.
Earlier in the press briefing, Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía reported 2,713 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 – the biggest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic – and 334 additional fatalities, the second highest daily death toll.
Mexico’s accumulated case tally now stands at 54,346 while the official coronavirus death toll is 5,666.
Alomía said that there are also 29,450 suspected Covid-19 cases and that 185,775 people have now been tested. Of the confirmed cases, 11,767 are considered active, he said.
Mexico City has now recorded more than 15,000 cases since the start of the pandemic, of which 3,032 are active. México state ranks second for both total and active cases, with 9,002 of the former and 1,426 of the latter.
Tabasco, Veracruz and Baja California have the third, fourth and fifth biggest active outbreaks, respectively. However, active cases in Tabasco decreased by 19 on Tuesday to 619.
Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Morelos and Campeche also recorded decreases in the size of their active outbreaks.
The daily death toll spiked sharply on Tuesday, up 115% compared to the 155 fatalities reported on Monday and 153% compared to the 132 reported on Sunday. Mexico’s coronavirus fatality rate is currently 10.4 per 100 confirmed cases.
In addition to the 5,666 confirmed Covid-19 deaths, 733 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by the disease, Alomía said.
Almost 45% of the confirmed deaths have occurred in just three states: Mexico City, Baja California and México state. The capital has recorded 1,452 coronavirus-related deaths, while more than 500 Covid-19 patients have died in both Baja California and México state.
Across the country, 22 minors have died after testing positive for Covid-19, according to Health Ministry data. Among those who lost their lives to the disease were 11 babies aged 2 or less.
