More than 1,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were added to Mexico’s official tally for a second consecutive day on Thursday while the country is now one of just 16 around the world that have recorded more than 1,000 deaths from the disease.

The federal Health Ministry reported 1,089 new coronavirus infections on Thursday night, taking the total number of cases across Mexico to 11,633. Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said that the death toll had risen to 1,069 from 970 a day earlier.

He also said that there are 7,588 suspected cases of Covid-19 in Mexico and that a total of 58,885 people have now been tested for the virus. Of the more than 11,000 confirmed cases, 4,127 are considered active, according to Health Ministry data.

With 99 new fatalities reported on Thursday, Mexico became the 16th country to record more than 1,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, late last year. Among those 16 countries, Mexico reached its first 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the second longest period of time after Switzerland.

Mexico recorded its first Covid-19 death on March 18 and its 1,000th on April 23 – a period of 37 days. Switzerland reached 1,000 deaths in 40 days.

The United States, meanwhile, where more than 44,000 people have now lost their lives to Covid-19, reached its first 1,000 deaths from the disease more quickly than any other nation: in just 12 days, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Spain reached the unfortunate milestone in 17 days, Brazil in 18, Italy in 20, Belgium in 22, the United Kingdom and Turkey in 24, Germany in 25, the Netherlands in 26, Iran in 31, Canada, France and China in 32 and Sweden in 35.

Although Mexico was the second slowest nation in reaching 1,000 fatalities, the pace at which the death toll is increasing is quickening: one-third of the 1,069 deaths reported occurred in the past three days.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell predicted in an interview on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic will claim between 6,000 and 8,000 lives in Mexico.

Mexico City has recorded the highest number of deaths to date with 268 followed by Baja California and México state, where 126 and 95 people, respectively, have lost their lives to Covid-19. Tabasco, Sinaloa, Puebla and Quintana Roo have each recorded more than 60 deaths while 42 people with Covid-19 have died in Chihuahua.

Mexico City also leads the country in terms of confirmed and active cases of Covid-19. The capital has recorded 3,157 cases since the disease was first detected in Mexico at the end of February and 1,268 of those cases are considered active.

México state has the second highest number of confirmed cases with 1,734 followed by Baja California with 1,075 and Sinaloa with 614. México state also ranks second for active cases with 642 followed by Baja California with 290 and Tabasco with 265.

The Nuevo León government reported that 165 new cases of Covid-19 were detected in Nuevo León on Thursday, a 50% increase in the total number of cases in the northern border state.

“It was a complicated day for Nuevo León; we have 165 new Covid-19 cases, the [epidemic] curve took off,” said state Health Minister Manuel de la O Cavazos.

He described the number of new cases detected as “astonishing” and said that stricter measures will be implemented in the state to limit the spread of the disease.

Almost 85% of the 165 new cases in Nuevo León were detected via testing at private laboratories, the newspaper Milenio reported.

A total of 496 cases of Covid-19 have now been confirmed in Nuevo León, according to Milenio, but federal Health Ministry data currently shows that there are only 249 confirmed cases in the state. That indicates that there is a delay between the statistics reported at the state-level and those reported by the federal government.

Baja California Governor Jaime Bonilla claimed last week that there is a lag of up to seven days between his government’s reporting of data to federal health authorities and their inclusion of it in the statistics they present nightly.

Source: Milenio (sp)