Mexican health officials confirmed a ten percent rise in fatalities tied to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in one day. The current death toll stands at 546 — up 60 from the previous day.

During a nightly news conference, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell and his staff presented an update on their tracking of the pandemic. In recent days, multiple Mexican governors harshly criticized Mexican health officials over a lack of equipment and the apparent lackluster response to the pandemic by the federal government.

During the news conference, health officials revealed the current number of confirmed cases is 6,875. Lab specialist are working to confirm or disprove 13,364 suspicious cases.

The number of confirmed cases is only a small fraction of the more than 55,000 estimated cases nationwide that health officials revealed on Thursday night. As Breitbart Texas reported, Mexican health officials are using a sampling method similar to an opinion poll to estimate the true scope of the pandemic. In total, since the start of the pandemic in Mexico, health officials have only tested 48,365 individuals.

As Breitbart Texas reported, in recent weeks, various Mexican governors have called out the federal government for what they describe as an insufficient response to the pandemic. Some governors have claimed that their states have not received equipment from federal officials, while others claim that Mexico’s top health officials have not even paid attention to their states.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.