Health officials in Mexico begged for people to stay indoors claiming it is their last chance at keeping its coronavirus cases from exploding in an exponential manner. Mexico currently has 848 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up from 717 one day prior.

“This is our last chance, stay home, stay home, stay home,” said Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez during a streamed news conference where they provided updated information on the pandemic’s effects in Mexico. Lopez Gatell asked the public to stay indoors for at least a month to slow the spread of the virus.

According to the most recent figures, Mexico has 848 confirmed cases, 2623 suspicious cases, and 16 fatalities from the novel coronavirus.

Panorama en México 28 de marzo 2020: 848 casos confirmados, 2,623 casos sospechosos, 4,341 casos negativos y 16 defunciones. El 88% han sido no graves y solo el 12% ha requerido hospitalización. pic.twitter.com/Q2UhGAXb5q — Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (@HLGatell) March 29, 2020

If the expected upward curve is not slowed, the number of cases will continue to rise in a rapid fashion and overwhelm Mexico’s hospitals. This could result in a high number of fatalities that can be avoided, Lopez Gatell said. Based on the curves seen in other counties in regard to the number of cases, Mexico crossed a major milestone on March 23 when it began to see a rapid rise in cases.

“We can still slow down the spread and be able to handle the serious cases in an efficient fashion, but time is running out,” he said. “If you do it and we all do it we can slow it down.”

The plea for help comes at a time when Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has been harshly criticized for taking a relaxed approach to the pandemic and up until a few days ago still encouraged the public to mingle and take their families out to eat, Breitbart Texas reported. Also, up until a few days ago, AMLO continued to hold public gatherings where he continued to hug fans and kiss babies. It wasn’t until Friday evening that AMLO posted a video asking the public to stay home.

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.