Mexican health officials saw a 21 percent jump in new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in a span of two days, leading to a total of 2,143 since the pandemic first arrived in the country. Officials are warning the public “the toughest” part is yet to come.

Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell revealed the newest statistics in a nightly news conference from Mexico City. Currently, Mexico has 2,143 confirmed cases and 94 fatalities directly related. Health officials also revealed they are looking at 5,209 test cases.

The number of confirmed cases showed a dramatic jump from 1,688 on Friday to 2,143 on Sunday night. The two-day 21 percent movement marks the sharpest spike since the pandemic first appeared.

During the conference, Lopez Gatell warned the public the worst is yet to come as Mexico nears the time frame that he called “phase 3,” when transmissions run at such an accelerated rate where it is hard to track the source of contagion. The health official claimed phase 3 could be arriving in Mexico within two to three weeks.

“We have to be very disciplined,” Lopez Gatell said. “Stay at home, stay at home, stay at home. This is the way to control the epidemic. The more we can control spread during phase 2, the better we will fare in phase 3.”

The health official asked the public to minimize their outings to only essential trips such as getting groceries and medicine.

“That is the only way to avoid the contagion,” he said. “to reduce the number of people going out and being exposed.”

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.