Health officials in Mexico saw a 22 percent spike in fatalities related to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). In one day, the number rose by 74 for a total of 406 deceased since the pandemic arrived.

Health officials released the new information Tuesday night during the nightly news conference revealing that in a 24-hour span, the cases spiked from 332 to 406. Mexico is reporting a total of 5,399 confirmed cases since the pandemic started.

The number of confirmed cases rose by 385 in one day. In total, health officials have only tested 40,091. The justification for such a low number of tests in comparison to other countries is based on a model called “Sentinel,” where they multiply the number of confirmed cases by a determined factor. A figure used last week by Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell used a factor of 8.2. It remains unclear if that factor has changed.

During the nightly interview, Lopez Gatell warned the public that a new phase of the pandemic was nearing where community spread would be so prevalent that infection tracing would be difficult. During what he calls “Phase 3,” additional containment measures such as the ceasing certain public activities would become necessary. Mexico has ordered a shutdown of nonessential businesses and has asked the general public to stay home. Despite the relatively lax measures, individual states and municipalities have taken stricter positions such shelter-in-place orders and road checkpoints.

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