In Mexico, the number of cases of people infected with COVID-19 increased to 10,544 confirmed patients, according to the Ministry of Health (SSa) on Wednesday. The death toll rose to 970, adding 113 in the last 24-hours.
The undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, emphasized the 3,618 confirmed active cases and called them the engine of the epidemic. Active cases are confirmed positive cases with symptoms onset date in the last 14 days.
In the map of incident cases from April 9 to 22, the variability that exists in the national territory for the epidemic is reflected. In the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico, there is the greatest activity of the epidemic, later in Baja California, in the northern border region of Tijuana and Mexicali, in the area of the municipality of Benito Juárez in Quintana Roo, in Tabasco, and in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa.
In the confirmed cases active by state entity of residence in the last 14 days, the majority are in Mexico City with 1085, the State of Mexico with 584, and Baja California with 300. The entities with the least amount are San Luis Potosí and Colima, with 9 and 6 cases, respectively.
The undersecretary explained that the incidence is the number of new cases divided by the population size of a defined territory. The division allows to compare the intensity of the transmission between the different states because each one has a different population.
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Within the incidence rate of active cases by state entity of residence, the highest are found in Mexico City, Tabasco, and Baja California. Jalisco and San Luis Potosí are the states with the lowest rates. The national rate is 2.83.
López-Gatell stated that, compared to European countries, Mexico has a relatively young population. However, there is an “extremely high” frequency of chronic diseases, in particular diabetes, obesity, hypertension, all associated with a poor diet.
The undersecretary informed the population, “the disease can take anyone by surprise and no one should assume that they are out of danger. We can all be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Anyone can get infected.”