Mexico’s Covid-19 Deaths Rise by Record as Economy Restarts
Mexico reported a record daily increase of 424 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total to 6,090.
(Bloomberg) -- Mexico reported a record daily increase of 424 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total to 6,090, according to a Health Ministry presentation at a news conference Wednesday evening. Total cases rose by 2,248 to 56,594.
The increase in deaths comes as Mexico has begun opening municipalities with few or no coronavirus cases to economic activity. The country has also decided to include auto production, mining and construction as essential activities, allowing those industries to reopen their factories if they meet health and safety guidelines.
Even so, hundreds of towns, many of them rural, that were allowed to reopen are refusing to lift their lock-downs fearing a spread of the virus. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has said his country is overcoming the pandemic, announced Mexico’s economy would start opening just as deaths from the virus began to hit record highs.
The pandemic is expected to hit Mexico’s economy especially hard. Analysts forecast a 7.6% contraction for 2020, according to a Citibanamex survey released today, and the country lost a record number of formal jobs in April. Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who’s overseeing the country’s response to the virus, has said Mexico must balance people’s need to work to survive and community health as it restarts its economy.
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