Mexican health officials revealed that the worst is yet to come as the number of cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to grow. The number climbed again on Saturday, reaching a total of 1,890 cases.

During a nightly conference, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell revealed that the number of cases of COVID-19 rose from 1,688 on Friday night to 1,890 on Saturday night. The fatalities from the coronavirus also rose from 60 cases on Friday to 79 cases on Saturday.

According to Lopez Gatell, one-quarter of the confirmed cases are already in a stage where they are not a contagion risk. Medical professionals are carrying out testing on 5,827 individuals who are listed as suspicious and once results are back will be listed as either confirmed or ruled negative. To date, Mexican health officials ruled out 9,467 cases where the tests were ruled negative.

During the news conference, Lopez Gatell pointed to the large majority of the fatalities having an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, obesity, and others. In some cases, patients had more than one condition

“Sadly, in Mexico, three-quarters of the population is considered overweight,” Lopez Gatell said. “This is tied to years of horrible eating habits fueled by junk food with little nutritional value.”

Lopez Gatell also pointed to the prevalent use of tobacco products that he claimed also contribute to the lethality of the disease.

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.

Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report