Mexico breaks a new record for daily COVID-19 infections as government claims the curve has flattened

The Ministry of Health (SSa) reported that, until this Wednesday, May 27, there are 8,597 COVID-19 deaths, 463 more than yesterday, and 78,023 accumulated confirmed cases, adding 3,463 in the past day and creating a new record for daily infections.

Mexico’s President and Secretary of Health announced on May 6 that the peak of the pandemic had been reached and the curve had been flattened. Since then, Mexico has created 9 new records for daily deaths and infections. Today’s infection rate is six-fold of the rate of infection reported on May 6, the announced peak and celebration that Mexico had contained the virus, an announcement long forgotten in the minds of many.

Today, from the National Palace in Mexico City, the director of Epidemiology, José Luis Alomí, announced that there are 15,592 active infections, which means that these patients had symptoms in the last 14 days.

The strategy to return to the “new normal” will be implemented in just a few days on Monday, June 1, and will work through a traffic light system that will indicate to each district what activities it will be able to restart and under what measures this return will be carried out. In addition to this, the General Health Council determined that the automotive, construction, and mining sectors would be added to the list of activities classified as essential.

As part of his appearance before the leaders of the Senate to explain the response of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador government regarding the coronavirus pandemic, the undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, defended the strategy of the current administration, declaring that testing was a waste of time and, “No one knows how many infected there are in his country, but it is not because there is no desire,” he said.

In a virtual meeting with the members of the Upper House’s Political Coordination Board (Jucopo), the official was repeatedly questioned by the opposition, to which he replied that it is not surprising that all countries have underreporting, since “You don’t need to register all of them, it is a waste of time and effort, it is a distraction.”, he indicated.

Although the Senators were not asking the Undersecretary if all citizens should be tested, they were asking if testing .04 people per 1,000 residents was sufficient information to understand the spread of the virus. The worldwide average in other countries is 22 testes per 1,000 residents.

“In Mexico, a narrative has been told that only in Mexico a testing of the full population doesn’t exist. It is false and it is demonstrable: the difference of the Mexican government, unlike the majority, is that it has declared that it does not have the purpose of counting all cases,” he assured.

The question remains, is the amount of testing being conducted in Mexico enough to scientifically understand the spread of the virus in the country. The goal isn’t to test every citizen, but to test enough of the population to get a reliable sampling of the population to make informed policy decisions.