The COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
The virus was confirmed to have reached Mexico in February 2020. However, the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) reported two cases of COVID-19 in mid-January 2020 in the states of Nayarit and Tabasco, with one case per state.
The Secretariat of Health, through the "Programa Centinela" (Spanish for "Sentinel Program"), 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 just a statistical sample.
Background
On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan, Hubei, China, which was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) 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 model 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 (Banxico) 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 Samuel García Sepúlveda 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 (SEP) 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.
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 26, Ana Lucía de la Garza Barroso, Director of Epidemiological and Operational Research at the Ministry of Health, reported surprisingly few cases, which raised questions of thoroughness.
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 patients 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 (Mexicans against corruption) alleged that Léon Manuel Bartlett, son of Manuel Bartlett the head of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), fraudulently tried to sell overpriced ventilators to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) 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.
An article published on The New York Times on May 8 assured that both the federal government and the state government of Mexico City ignored the wave of coronavirus deaths in the capital city. The article criticized the way that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been handling the pandemic citing the lack of testing done and the fact that the government has been hiding the real number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. It was also mentioned that despite the fact that Undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell has been saying that "We [Mexico] have flattened the curve" and that only 5% of those infected will show symptoms, and only 5% of those patients with symptoms will go to the hospital, experts say that "their model is wrong" and that "there's a very good consensus on that".
More than 100 health workers (doctors, nurses, orderlies, etc.) are among the 3,573 dead from the virus on May 12.
Between May 9 and 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% (3,891) 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 (94,958 cases) 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% (12,654 cases) in these 22 days of "new normal."
On July 1, Mexico became the seventh country with the most 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 criminal sanctions. On that matter, Maricela Lecuona González, lawyer of the Secretariat of Health, said that: