Mexico has recorded a total of 117,103 confirmed coronavirus cases and 13,699 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the federal Health Ministry reported on Sunday.
The case tally increased by 3,593 on Saturday and 3,484 on Sunday while 529 Covid-19 deaths were registered over the weekend.
The Health Ministry reported 341 deaths on Saturday and 188 on Sunday, figures much lower than those registered between Wednesday and Friday last week.
However, the number of Covid-19 deaths reported on Saturdays and Sundays in recent weeks has been significantly lower than on preceding days, indicating that there is a delay in confirming and/or reporting fatalities over the weekend.
Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía told a press conference Sunday night that 19,629 confirmed Covid-19 cases – one in six of the total – are currently active.
He also said that there are 45,317 suspected cases across the country and that 336,395 people have been tested.
Mexico City and México state rank first and second, respectively, for coronavirus deaths, cumulative cases and active cases but there are signs that the situation is improving.
Coronavirus infections declined at the end of May in the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, which includes the 16 boroughs of the capital and 59 México state municipalities.
In the week of May 25 to 31, 4,769 new cases were registered in Mexico City, a decline of 359 cases, or 7%, compared to the preceding seven days.
A data analysis conducted by the newspaper Milenio found that new cases also declined in the last week of May in the México state municipalities that are part of the Valley of México metropolitan area, albeit by just eight cases or 0.3%.
The decrease in the number of new cases was much more pronounced in the northern border cities of Tijuana, Baja California, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
New infections declined 44% in the former city from 222 in the penultimate week of May to 124 the following week, while they decreased from 194 to 109 in Juárez for a drop of the same percentage.
In contrast, Mexico’s second and third biggest cities recorded increases in case numbers in the during the same period.
New infections surged 117% in the eight municipalities of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, to 579 compared to 267 the previous week.
And new cases increased 26% in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo León, with 285 registered between May 25 and 31 compared to 226 in the preceding seven days.
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, recorded a 61% increase in new infections while Villahermosa, Tabasco, saw a 34% spike.
More than three months have passed since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico and after just over two months of federally mandated social distancing, the country has now completed the first week of what the government is calling “the new normal.”
Almost 30,000 Covid-19 cases and just under 4,000 deaths were reported in the week after the conclusion of the national social distancing initiative, figures far higher than in any other week since the beginning of the pandemic.
The risk of infection is at the “red light” maximum level in every state of the country, according to the updated “stoplight” map presented by the Health Ministry on Friday, while the Covid-19 death toll is predicted to rise considerably.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle predicts that the death toll will almost quadruple over the next two months. It projects that 51,912 people will have lost their lives to Covid-19 in Mexico by August 4, and that confirmed infections will reach 403,650 by the same date.
Meanwhile, the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), a large public health provider, said on Sunday that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Zoé Robledo said in a Twitter post that he would continue working from home and follow the instructions of doctors.
IMSS said in a statement that Robledo developed symptoms of Covid-19 on Saturday but is nevertheless in good health.
“The people with whom he had contact were informed,” the institute said.
One of those people is President López Obrador, who appeared alongside Robledo at a press conference in Tabasco on Friday.
However, López Obrador said at his regular news conference on Monday morning that he hadn’t been tested for Covid-19 because he doesn’t have any symptoms.
“Fortunately I’m fine, … I look after myself and keep a [healthy] distance,” he said.
Source: Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp), El Universal (sp)
