COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico


The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Mexico in February 2020. However, the National Council of Science and Technology reported two cases of COVID-19 in mid-January 2020 in the states of Nayarit and Tabasco, one case per state. As of August 1, there had been 434,193 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mexico and 47,472 reported deaths, although the Secretariat of Health, through the "Programa Centinela" estimated in mid July 2020 that there were more than 2,875,734 cases in Mexico, because they were considering the total number of cases confirmed as a statistical sample.

Background

On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the World Health Organization on December 31, 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

Timeline

January 2020

On January 22, 2020, the Secretariat of Health issued a statement saying that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 did not present a danger to Mexico. 441 cases had been confirmed in China, Thailand, South Korea, and the United States, and a travel advisory was issued on January 9.
On January 30, 2020, before the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization the Government of Mexico designed a Preparation and Response Plan that was made by the National Committee for Health Safety, a working group led by Secretariat of Health composed by different health entities aiming to act upon the imminent arrival of the pandemic. This group carried out a series of alert measures, rehabilitation and updating of epidemiological regulations based on the International Health Regulations, being the first Latam country that deployed a mathematical modelling of infectious disease.

February–March 2020

On February 28, Mexico confirmed its first three cases. A 35-year-old man and a 59-year-old man in Mexico City and a 41-year-old man in the northern state of Sinaloa tested positive and were held in isolation at a hospital and a hotel, respectively. They had travelled to Bergamo, Italy, for a week in mid-February.
On February 29, a fourth case was detected and confirmed in the city of Torreón, in the state of Coahuila, from a 20-year-old woman who traveled to Italy.
On March 1, a fifth case was announced in Chiapas in a student who had just returned from Italy. On March 6, a sixth case was confirmed in the State of Mexico in a 71-year-old man who had returned from Italy on February 21.
On March 7, a seventh case was also confirmed in Mexico City in a 46-year-old male who had previously had contact with another confirmed case in the United States.
On March 10, an eighth case was reported in Puebla, a 47-year-old German man who had returned from a business trip to Italy. On the same date, 40 members of a dance company in Puebla, returning from a tour in Italy, were quarantined. The Mexican Stock Exchange fell to a record low on March 10 due to fears of the coronavirus and because of falling oil prices. The Bank of Mexico stepped in to prop up the value of the peso, which fell 14% to 22.929 per US dollar.
On March 11, a ninth case was confirmed in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León. A 57-year-old man, who had recently come back from a trip all across Europe, was placed under quarantine. The man, who has remained anonymous, came back from his trip a week before and had contact with eight other people who have also been placed under quarantine in their houses. The man has been confirmed to reside in the city of San Pedro Garza García.
On March 12, Mexico announced it had a total of 15 confirmed cases, with new cases in Puebla and Durango. A day later, senator accused the federal government of hiding the true number of confirmed cases.
On March 14, Fernando Petersen, the secretary of health of the state of Jalisco, confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19 were detected in Hospital Civil de Guadalajara. Two new cases were confirmed in Nuevo León, and the Secretariat of Public Education announced that all sporting and civic events in schools would be canceled. The same day, the Secretariat of Education announced that Easter break, originally planned from April 6 to 17, would be extended from March 20 to April 20 as a preventive measure.
On March 17, 11 new cases were confirmed, raising the national total to 93, with Campeche being the only state with no confirmed cases. Mexico's limited response, including allowing a large concert and the women's soccer championship, as well as a lack of testing, have been criticized. Critics note that president López Obrador does not practice social distancing but continues to greet large crowds, and the borders have not been closed. Of particular concern is the health of thousands of migrants in temporary camps along the border with the United States. The former national commissioner for influenza in Mexico during the 2009 flu pandemic, Alejandro Macías, said the problem is compounded by the fact that Mexico lacks sufficient intensive care unit beds, medical care workers and ventilators.
On March 18, 25 more cases were confirmed raising the total to 118 cases and 314 suspected cases. Authorities in Jalisco are concerned about a group of 400 people who recently returned from Vail, Colorado; 40 people have symptoms of COVID-19. The same day, the MexiOn March 17, 11 new cases were confirmed, raising the national total to 93, with Campeche being the only state with no confirmed cases.
On March 22, bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, and museums were closed in Mexico City. Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramírez of Jalisco announced that beginning Thursday, March 26, Jalisco and seven other states in the Bajío and western Mexico will block flights from areas such as California that have a high rate of coronavirus. He also said that they will purchase 25,000 testing kits.
On March 30, the total number of cases of COVID-19 surpassed one thousand with 1,094 confirmed cases and 28 reported deaths in the country. In the evening, a national health emergency was declared by Secretary Marcelo Ebrard; all sectors in the country are urged to stop most of their activities.

April–May 2020

On April 10, the total confirmed deaths surpassed two hundred with 233 deaths and 3,844 cases confirmed by Mexican authorities. The government of Baja California closed a plant belonging to the multinational giant Smiths Group after the firm refused to sell ventilators to the Mexican government. On the same day, Mexican consulates in the United States announced the deaths of 181 Mexican nationals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 13, the number of COVID-19 infections in the country passed 5,000; there were 332 deaths. The Mexican Navy announced it would open ten voluntary self-isolation units to shelter 4,000 COVID-19 victims in Mexico City, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. Sonora became the first state in the country to declare a curfew.
The number of coronavirus cases surges past 10,000 to 10,544 with 970 deaths on April 21. The death toll surpassed the 1,000 figure on April 23. Tijuana expects its hospitals to run out of space over the weekend.
On May 1, Mexico surpassed 20,000 infections of COVID-19. Mexicanos contra la corrupción alleged that Léon Manuel Bartlett, son of Manuel Bartlett the head of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, fraudulently tried to sell overpriced ventilators to the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Hidalgo. On May 2, Mexico surpassed 2,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At least forty Mexican and Guatemalan farm workers in Canada contracted coronavirus, that according to the United Food and Commercial Workers.
More than 100 health workers are among the 3,573 dead from the virus on May 12.
Between May 9 and May 15, 13,000 new cases were confirmed. The totals were 42,595 cases, 10,057 active cases, and 4,477 deaths on May 15.
On May 22, the number of new cases and deaths reported in 24-hours reached a record high of 2,973 and 420 respectively.

June–July 2020

On June 2, the number of new cases of infection increased by 4.2% compared to the day before. Women made up 57% of the 97,326 confirmed cases in the country at the time.
51.2% of all infections occurred in the so-called “new normal” from May 18 to June 23 as the period after the country’s general quarantine was lifted and states began to resume their economic and social activities in stages. Deaths also grew by 56% in these 22 days of “new normal.”
On July 1, Mexico became the seventh country with the most amount of COVID-19 deaths surpassing Spain. The same day, Mexico reported 231,770 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with this Mexico became the tenth country with the most infected people with the virus in the world. On July 4, Mexico moved to sixth place in the number of deaths by COVID-19, surpassing France.
On July 8, department stores reopened in Mexico City, but customers were limited to only one hour of shopping, they must wear a face mask, and may not use dressing rooms nor try products such as cosmetics or perfumes.
On July 11, Mexico surpassed the United Kingdom and became the eighth country with the greatest number of confirmed cases in the world. The same day, the ashes of 245 Mexicans that died of COVID-19 in the United States arrived in Mexico City and were given to their respective family. On the same day’s daily press conference of Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell, the Undersecretary said that the Secretariat of Health was putting on hold the presentation of next week’s "traffic light" due to the inconsistencies found on the data that certain states were reporting. Yucatán and Quintana Roo, states that were pointed out by López-Gatell for their inconsistencies and delayed reporting, said that they were fully complying with what they were asked to report. On July 12, Mexico became the country with the fourth greatest number of deaths in the world with 35,006, surpassing Italy.
On July 13, 304,435 cases and 35,491 deaths were reported. Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell, said that there has been a decrease in new cases in the Valley of Mexico as Guanajuato moves into second place with 2,530 active cases. Nuevo León reports an occupancy rate of 82% in hospitals.
On July 22, the Assistant Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Jarbas Barbosa, announced that Mexico was the 38th country to send a letter of intent to buy a COVID-19 vaccine when one is available. Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said there was evidence that a vaccine might be available during 2020, and that the goal is an even distribution of 2 billion doses among the other 77 countries.
On July 23, President López Obrador confirmed that he had relatives infected by COVID-19 and even that some have died because of the virus.
On July 30, Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell threatened governors who deliberately change the traffic light status of their respective states with with criminal sanctions. On that matter, Maricela Lecuona González, lawyer of the Secretariat of Health, said that:
Several governors rejected the propsal. The French pharmacutical company Sanofi-Pasteur announced it will soon begin testing a COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico.
On July 31, Mexico moved into third place in the number of fatalities, behind the United States and Brazil, with 46,688 deaths. Mexico occupied sixth place globally in the total number of confirmed cases, with 424,637.

August–September 2020

Statistics

SALUD">Secretariat of Health (Mexico)">SALUD reported Mexico totals

Statistics per 100,000 inhabitants

Curves of infection and deaths

On April 20, the Secretariat of Health started to report active cases at the daily press conference.

New cases and deaths per day

Graphs based on daily reports from the Mexican Secretariat of Health on confirmed cases of COVID-19.



Chart of deaths by date of death

On June 3 Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez at daily press conference on COVID-19 explained daily announced deaths were tested positive for COVID-19 on that day but it does not imply all deaths occurred on this same day. There is a lag, for several causes, between the date of occurrence of the death and the day of positive COVID-19 test result is received.

Chart of hospitalized cases

Number and categorization of hospitalized cases presented by the Secretariat of Health at the daily press conference. After April 20 the Secretariat of Health stopped reporting this type of classification of hospitalized cases. This chart is left here for historical purposes.

Charts of COVID-19 progression by top states

Cases

Deaths

Maps

Phases of contingency

According to the Secretariat of Health, there are three phases before the disease can be considered as an epidemic in the country:

Recovery phases

On May 13, 2020, the Secretary of Economy Graciela Márquez Colín announced the «Plan for the return to the new normality». The purpose of the plan is to progressively resume productive, social and educational activities that were halted during the phases of contingency in order to reopen the economy:

Traffic light color system

The "traffic light" color system will be implemented for the gradual reopening of the country starting June 1, 2020. It will consist of four colors that represent the severity of the pandemic in each state. The "traffic light" will be updated weekly and each color will indicate which activities are safe to resume.

Effects

Finance

The INEGI says the unemployment rate increased from 3.6% in January 2020 to 3.7% in February 2020. The informal sector increased to 56.3% in February compared to 56.0% in February 2019.
The Mexican Stock Exchange fell to a record low on March 10 due to fears of the coronavirus and because of falling oil prices. The Bank of Mexico stepped in to prop up the value of the peso, which fell 14% to 22.929 per US dollar. World markets are seeing falls similar to those of 1987. Moody's Investors Service predicted that the economy will contract 5.2% during the first trimester of the year and 3.7% by the end of the year. Banxico announced on April 1 that foreign investors have withdrawn MXN $150 billion from Mexico, mostly in Certificados de la Tesorería since February 27 when the first COVID-19 case in Mexico was diagnosed. The problem is compounded by the low oil price, only US $10.37 per barrel, a 20.29% drop since the beginning of the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war.
Some financial analysts say there has been too little, too late. Carlos Serrano of BBVA México predicts a 4.5% economic contraction in 2020, while analysts at Capital Economics in London argue that the government has to do more to support the economy. They forecast a 6% contraction this year. HR Ratings, Latin America's first credit rating agency, said that the performance of the economy this year will depend on the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. Inflation slowed to 2.08% during the first half of April, the lowest figure in four years.
In May, BBVA predicted that 58.4% of the Mexican population would live below the poverty line by the end of 2020, an increase of 12 million people. Extreme poverty is expected to grow by 12.3 million people, 26.6% of the population. The bank predicts GDP will fall by 12%. Citibanamex predicts a 7.6% decline in GDP.

Industries

The Consejo Nacional Empresarial Turístico sent two letters in March to Alfonso Romo, Chief of Staff to the President, outlining the importance of tourism to the economy and asking for government support for the sector. Tourism provides 4 million jobs in Mexico, and 93% of the companies have ten or fewer employees. COVID-19 has forced the closure of 4,000 hotels and 2,000 restaurants, while the airline industry has lost MXN $30 billion. Tourism accounts for 10% of Gross domestic product in the world.
The association of car dealers, ADMA, predicts a decrease in sales in Mexico between 16% and 25% this year. J.D. Power estimated a 20% decrease, 264,000 vehicles, in Mexico and a 15% drop across the world. The Employers Confederation of the Mexican Republic criticized the government on March 29 for not suspending the payment of taxes, saying the government does not care about unemployment. Fernando Treviño Núñez, president of the organization, explained that businesses cannot afford to pay salaries for more than three months without receiving income. Gasoline and diesel fuel importers have not noted a decrease in demand since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they fear that health precautions could cause fuel delays at ports of entry. Watco Companies said that cargo on the Houston Ship Channel for delivery to San Luis Potosí increased 25% in March compared to January. Mexico imports 65% of its gasoline.
On March 24, Grupo Modelo, makers of Corona beer, promised to donate 300,000 bottles of antibacterial gel to the Mexican Social Security Institute. The Canacintra announced on April 2 they were suspending all beer production in the country, as breweries are not an essential industry and there was sufficient supply in the country for a month. Tequila producers plan to stay open.
As of April 22, Grupo Salinas with its 70,000 employees, continues to operate as if the pandemic were nonexistent. Even after the rest of the country entered Phase 3 in late April, its stores remain open, social distancing is not enforced, and employees do not use face masks. The United States pressed Mexico in late April to reopen factories that are key to the U.S. supply chain, including those with military contracts, as employees staged walkouts and expressed fear of contracting COVID-19. Lear Corporation acknowledges there have been coronavirus-related deaths among its 24,000 employees in Ciudad Juárez, but won't say how many.
General Motors announced that by late April 2020 its Toluca plant would start producing 1.5 million surgical face masks per month for use in hospitals in the states of Mexico, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila, Guanajuato, and Mexico City.
A team of medical experts and veterinarians led by Pedro Guillermo Mar Hernadez of Hermosillo Technological Center and Pedro Ortega Romero of Sonora State University developed a ventilator that can be used by six COVID-19 patients at a time.
Gasoline sales fell 70% between April 10 and 18, threatening the financial future of gas stations. Meanwhile, the port of Veracruz is saturated and tankers are stranded off the coast due to low prices.Airbnb offers free accommodations for health care workers.
The ′′Unión de Retailers de México'' said that between 1,500 and 2,500 businesses in shopping centers, between 9.3% and 18% of the 14,000 stores in Mexico City, were forced to close in April 2020 because they could not pay their rent.
On May 27, film director Alfonso Cuarón plead employers to continue to pay the wages of more than 2.3 million housekeepers that have been left without wages because of the outbreak stating that "It is our responsibility as employers to pay their wages in this time of uncertainty".
IMSS reported that Mexico lost 1,113,677 formal jobs from March to June: 130,593 during March, 555,247 in April, 304,526 in May, and 83,311 in June. Considering that new jobs were created in January and February 2020, the balance was a loss of 921,583 jobs for the first six months of the year.

Panic buying

in mid-March is causing shortages in Mexico of Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which U.S. President Donald Trump, with no backing from the scientific or medical communities, says is helpful in preventing COVID-19. The Comisión Federal para la Protección de Riesgos Sanitarios has put controls on the sale of both products. Hidroxicloroquina is used in the treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Plaquenil tablets are produced in Mexico by the French company Sanofi; the raw material comes from Hungary. Shortages of medicine for these diseases can be expected soon.
In mid-March, retailers in the border city of Tijuana experienced shortages of water and toilet paper as Americans from southern California began crossing the border to panic-buy these items. Purchase limits were placed on several item categories following the first wave of panic-buying by foreigners.

Crime

Authorities are concerned about supermarket robberies. A gang of 70 people robbed a grocery store in Tecámac, State of Mexico, on March 23, and a gang of 30 looted a supermarket in the city of Oaxaca on March 24. Calls for supermarket looting, warning of food shortages, are making the rounds of social media. Four such social media groups in Tijuana were broken up in Baja California on March 29. The number of murders has not decreased due to the coronavirus pandemic, and drug cartels are fighting each other in Guerrero and Michoacan.
On April 14, José Luis Calderón, vice president of the Mexican Association of Private Security Companies, commenting on the increase of crime, told El Informador,
Travel restrictions are making it more difficult for Mexican drug cartels to operate, because chemicals from China, which are the raw materials for synthesizing illegal drugs, cannot be imported. As a result, the price of illegal methamphetamine has increased from 2,500 pesos to 15,000 pesos per pound. Cartels are also struggling to smuggle drugs across the border to the United States, where many customers live, because border crossings have been shut down. The reduction in international air travel has made it easier for authorities to track planes used for transporting illegal drugs.
In May, three different families, relatives of victims of COVID-19, were attacked in Cuajimalpa, Mexico City.

Timeline of the government response

January to March

;Archaeological sites
Teotihuacán, Xochicalco, El Tepozteco closed March 21–22. Chichén Itzá closed indefinitely starting March 21.
;Educational institutions
;Entertainment
OCESA cancelled all its events until April 19.
;Government
President López Obrador suspended non-essential activities from March 26 to April 19. The health and energy sectors, the oil industry, and public services such as water supply, waste management and public safety continued to function.
;Industry
Ford Motor Company, Honda and Audi closed their manufacturing plants in Mexico on March 18. Hundreds of hotel employees in Cancún were fired. Alsea offered its employees unpaid leave. PROFECO closed two businesses in Tijuana Baja California, for price-gouging on March 25. Cinépolis and Cinemex announced that they will temporarily close all of their theaters starting March 25.
;Ports of entry
;Sports
Jalisco Open and CONCACAF Champions League cancelled March 13.
;Religious events
On March 17, the Passion Play of Iztapalapa in Mexico City moved to an undisclosed location indoors and televised on April 10.
San Luis Potosí suspended wakes and funerals on March 29.
;Curfew established
Mayor Juanita Romero of Nacozari de García, Sonora, declared a curfew in effect until April 20.
;Greater Mexico City transportation
;Mail
Mexico Post suspended international mail service outside the United States and Canada due to cancellation of international passenger airline flights.

Misinformation and criticism

's federal government was perceived as slow to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as of late March 2020, and it was met with criticism from certain sectors of society and the media. Through April 1, the government only performed 10,000 tests, compared to 200,000 that had been completed in New York state. Therefore, official statistics are likely to greatly underestimate the actual number of cases. The New York Times reported on May 8 that the federal government is underreporting deaths in Mexico City; the federal government reports 700 deaths in the city while local officials have detected over 2,500.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has continued to hold rallies, be tactile with crowds, and downplay the threat of coronavirus to health and the economy.
Miguel Barbosa Huerta, the governor of Puebla, claimed that only the wealthy were at risk of COVID-19, since the poor are immune. There is no evidence that wealth affects a person's vulnerability to the virus.
Rumors about a curfew sparked the barricading of streets in San Felipe del Progreso, State of Mexico, on May 8. A rumor spread via WhatsApp that authorities were spreading gas contaminated with COVID-19 provoked vandalism of police cars in San Mateo Capulhuac, Otzolotepec, on May 9.