MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico has surpassed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths and 200,000 cases, the government said on Thursday.
Jose Luis Alomia, head of epidemiology at the health secretariat, said the country of 127 million had reached 25,060 deaths and 202,951 cases since reporting its first infection almost four months ago.
The first three cases were detected in the country on February 28 but it wasn’t until the final week of March that the government suspended all but non-essential economic activity.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s reluctance to take tougher measures earlier to halt the spread of the virus — bucking a regional trend — saw the socialist leader come under heavy criticism.
Despite new cases and deaths still rising, the government began gradually reopening the economy on June 1.
The capital Mexico City is still under a maximum lockdown, though. There have been more than 77,000 cases in the capital and its greater metropolitan region.
Mexico has recorded 159 cases per 100,000 people, according to government figures presented on Thursday.