MEXICO CITY — On March 4, a few days after the first coronavirus case was discovered here, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was asked about the infection at his daily news conference. “With the coronavirus, this idea that you can’t hug,” the president said. “You have to hug. Nothing happens.” He crossed his arms and hugged himself, a signature gesture that he uses to show him hugging the Mexican people.

As the virus outbreak was declared a pandemic, and nations went into lockdown and shut down flights and borders, critics used the remark as an exhibit of how the silver-haired, 66-year-old president is mishandling the crisis. Videos of it on social media have been shared hundreds of thousands of times. But Mr. López Obrador was unrepentant, and in a seeming retort on March 14, he posted a video of himself hugging and kissing supporters at a large rally in the impoverished state of Guerrero.

Mexico is behind Europe and the United States in its rate of coronavirus infection, but the number of cases is rising steadily. The government has not clamped down on travel or work, citing the enormous economic challenges as the peso tanks and the White House restricts crossings on the southern border. Mr. López Obrador continues to make frivolous comments on the virus. At a news conference, he took out amulets that he says protect him, and he continues to attend rallies.

On the flip side, Mexico has been tracing imported cases and putting those people in quarantine, has been preparing hospitals and stepped up actions in recent days, closing schools and encouraging people to stay at home. On March 20, the government also began a social-distancing campaign, telling people not to greet with hugs and kisses, and supported it with ads featuring a new superhero, Susana Distancia, her name a play on “sana distancia,” or “healthy distance.”