Jalisco Governor says Mexico does not want the extent of COVID-19 to be known

Jalisco’s governor accused the undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, of preventing tests to detect the coronavirus or Covid-19 from entering Mexico.

The government is preventing us from having evidence of Mexico’s COVID-19 infections, the governor said Monday morning.

Interviewed by Ciro Gómez Leyva on Radio Fórmula, the governor of Jalisco blamed the Undersecretary of Health directly for being the one who prevents states from buying the needed tests to fully understand the spread of COVID-19 in their communities.

“Undersecretary López-Gatell is the one who prevents the tests from entering Mexico, because he does not want it to be measured and he does not want to know the size of the problem.” said the Governor.

Last month, Jalisco announced the purchase of rapid tests to detect the coronavirus, which supposedly would be carried out on the entire population. However, he later said that the supplier breached the contract and the State had not received the tests.

“I do not want to think that what (the undersecretary of Health) López-Gatell is hiding statistics because it would be an act of treason to the homeland,” the Governor said last week when the Federal Government ruled out the usage of rapid tests in the country.

The Governor insists the rapid tests were not delivered to the state because the federal government refused their delivery when reaching customs.

“The tests could not pass customs because they did not have the Cofepris certification,” he said. Cofepris is the governmental body that regulates healthcare equipment and other goods used for healthcare in Mexico.

Currently, Mexico is below the average in testing worldwide with only 125 out of 1-million people being tested. Only about 10% of people who present symptoms of COVID-19 are being approved for testing in Mexico.