An additional 788 COVID-19 fatalities were reported on Tuesday, lifting Mexico’s official death toll to 279,894.

The Health Ministry also reported 7,682 new coronavirus cases, increasing the accumulated tally to 3.69 million.

There are 47,569 estimated active cases, a 1.7% increase compared to Monday. Tabasco is the only state with more than 100 active cases per 100,000 people. The Gulf coast state currently has about 120 active cases for every 100,000 residents.

Mexico City and Colima rank second and third respectively. Both states have about 90 active cases per 100,000 residents.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are six states with fewer than 20 active cases per 100,000 people, according to Health Ministry data. They are Chiapas, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Michoacán and Sinaloa.

About 73% of Mexican adults have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot but only about half of all citizens – adults and children – are vaccinated. Only 36% of citizens are fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker.

The federal government expects to have offered at least one dose to all adults by the end of October but has not announced plans to inoculate children apart from approximately 1 million minors with health conditions that make them vulnerable to serious COVID-19 illness.

Mexico has the fourth highest COVID-19 death toll in the world and the 18th highest mortality rate with 218.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the high death toll, President López Obrador has characterized the government’s management of the pandemic as a success, writing in his new book that “we’ve done everything humanly possible to confront the pandemic and save lives.”

Mexico News Daily