It’s a matter of days before Mexico enters phase three of Covid-19 crisis The next phase will bring 'very rapid' spread of Covid-19, says deputy health minister

It’s a matter of days before Mexico enters phase three of Covid-19 crisis

The next phase will bring 'very rapid' spread of Covid-19, says deputy health minister

Published on Wednesday, April 15, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

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Mexico will enter phase three of the coronavirus pandemic in a matter of days, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 continues to rise steadily.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s nightly coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell once again urged citizens to stay at home to reduce the number of new infections and thus help to avoid overwhelming the nation’s health system.

Despite the work the authorities have done to prepare the system for a large influx of patients, the spread of Covid-19 “could be so quick” during phase three that hospitals would be unable to cope, he said.

In such a scenario, the health system would experience “serious and large problems” in attending to Covid-19 patients, López-Gatell added.

The deputy minister said that the commencement of phase three is “literally” just days away and that when it arrives, the spread of Covid-19 will be “very rapid” and “irreversible.”

Coronavirus by state
State	Deaths	Cases	Suspected	Tested negative
Mexico City	92	1556	2049	4628
Estado de México	35	602	904	1800
Sinaloa	34	261	293	680
Baja California	28	412	590	766
Puebla	27	276	312	762
Quintana Roo	25	245	201	403
Tabasco	19	195	343	502
Chihuahua	16	69	186	211
Coahuila	12	194	911	920
Jalisco	11	165	620	2350
Michoacán	11	67	163	469
Hidalgo	10	64	33	377
Sonora	9	73	158	465
Morelos	9	53	79	266
Yucatán	7	116	147	511
Guerrero	6	88	142	279
Baja California Sur	5	164	198	484
Nuevo León	5	136	1919	1634
Veracruz	5	94	418	838
Guanajuato	5	90	172	1496
Oaxaca	5	46	60	330
Querétaro	4	65	68	419
San Luis Potosí	4	55	115	800
Tlaxcala	4	51	149	296
Nayarit	4	25	36	158
Tamaulipas	3	55	178	438
Chiapas	3	45	67	234
Durango	3	15	89	248
Campeche	2	33	41	95
Zacatecas	2	17	59	244
Aguascalientes	1	65	66	705
Colima		7	26	92
	Deaths	Cases	Suspected	Tested negative
Total	406	5399	10792	23900

Figures released by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

“What we do today [in terms of social distancing], we have few days left to do it vigorously,” López-Gatell said.

“[We have to] avoid being in contact with other people, … all of us, not just the people with greater risk of having complications [from the disease]. We insist that you stay at home; this is the measure of precaution, prevention and control that is necessary today,” he said.

Asked whether a phase three declaration could only apply to certain parts of the country that have concentrated outbreaks of Covid-19, López-Gatell responded:

“Technically it could be done … but [a] … selective process would be confusing, that’s why we’re considering a single phase three [declaration] of a national character.”

An obligatory home quarantine and a “health curfew” in which people are only permitted to leave their homes during certain hours are among the stricter restrictions that the government could choose to impose during the third phase of the pandemic, although President López Obrador said earlier this month that his administration would not seek to implement any “draconian measures.”

López-Gatell’s declaration that a phase three declaration is imminent came after Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía reported that the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 had increased by 385 to 5,399 and that coronavirus-related deaths had risen to 406 from 332 a day earlier.

The 72 new fatalities represent the biggest single-day increase in the death toll since the first Covid-19 patient died on March 18.

Alomía also said that there are 10,792 suspected cases of Covid-19 in the country and that just over 40,000 people have now been tested. Almost 40% of those confirmed to have Covid-19 – a total of 2,125 people – have now recovered, he said.

Mexico City has the highest number of confirmed cases, with 1,556, followed by México state and Baja California, where there are 602 and 412 cases, respectively. Colima has the lowest number, with seven, followed by Durango and Zacatecas, where there are 15 and 17 cases, respectively.

Among the more than 5,000 people confirmed to have Covid-19 are nine infants aged less than one. Twenty-four pregnant women have also tested positive and four have died.

Mexico City also leads the country in terms of coronavirus-related deaths with 92 fatalities. México state and Sinaloa follow with 35 and 34 deaths, respectively. Colima is the only state that hasn’t yet recorded a fatality.

Among Covid-19 patients aged 60 or over, the fatality rate is 17.1 per 100 cases and for those aged 25-59 it is 5.6. There has only been one coronavirus-related death among those younger than 25 – a 2-year-old girl with a congenital heart defect died in Tabasco on Tuesday.

The overall fatality rate in Mexico is 7.52 per 100 cases. According to Health Ministry data, 43% of those who have died suffered from hypertension, 38% had diabetes, 34% were obese and 12% had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

As the percentages indicate, some of the deceased suffered from more than one existing health problem.

Source: Milenio (sp) 

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In the absence of people, crocodiles take over Oaxaca beaches With the tourists away the crocs come out to play

In the absence of people, crocodiles take over Oaxaca beaches

With the tourists away the crocs come out to play

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Published on Monday, April 13, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

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The crocodiles of La Ventanilla, Oaxaca, have taken to the beach for the first time in decades in the absence of human activity during the Covid-19 emergency.

The popular ecotourism destination is home to a lagoon in which the crocodiles normally spend most of their time, avoiding visitors who come from nearby Mazunte, Zipolite, Puerto Escondido and other destinations to snap photos of them from tour boats.

But when the tourists are away, the crocs will play, and a photo of five large reptiles enjoying the otherwise empty beach made the rounds on social media on Sunday.

The federal government closed all Mexico’s beaches in early April to prevent people from gathering in groups and further spreading the coronavirus. Since then there have been a number of observations of wildlife reclaiming spaces they previously avoided due to human presence.

Fishermen and Civil Protection agents from nearby Santa María Colotepec captured a crocodile in a lagoon adjacent to the popular tourist and surfer destination Puerto Escondido in March. The animal was released in wetlands south of that city.

There have also been reports of jaguars and leatherback sea turtles re-entering spaces in Cancún from which human activity had kept them away for decades.

In Oaxaca, crocodiles occasionally enter spaces normally occupied by people. A fisherman was attacked by a crocodile while taking a nap on the Boca Barra beach, just south of Puerto Escondido, in November.

Similar incidents in the lagoons west of Puerto Escondido led the federal environmental protection agency Profepa to carry out a census of the animal’s numbers in the Manialtepec and Chacahua lagoons before the Covid-19 pandemic stopped normal life in its tracks.

The original project, which was suspended due to a lack of resources, aimed to find better ways to protect both humans and crocodiles, as people have encroached more and more into the animal’s habitat in recent years.

Sources: Mediotiempo (sp), Milenio (sp)

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Doctors warn of ‘ticking time bomb’ as citizens ignore safe distance measures It's like there is no health risk at all, the doctors said of several México state municipalities

MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2020

Doctors warn of ‘ticking time bomb’ as citizens ignore safe distance measures Doctors at hospitals in several México state municipalities warned that many citizens are ignoring social distancing recommendations amid the coronavirus pandemic. FULL STORY 442 new coronavirus cases take total to 4,661; 1,800 victims have recovered Mexico City has the highest number of cases and deaths. FULL STORY RELATED: Covid-19 deaths rise to 233; confirmed cases have doubled since last Friday FULL STORY Share this email and introduce friends to Mexico News Daily

Doctors warn of ‘ticking time bomb’ as citizens ignore safe distance measures

It's like there is no health risk at all, the doctors said of several México state municipalities

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Published on Monday, April 13, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

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Doctors at hospitals in several México state municipalities have warned of a “ticking time bomb” as many citizens ignore the government’s social distancing recommendations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Doctors in municipalities including Tlalnepantla, Ecatepec, Tecámac, Nezahualcóyotl, La Paz and Chalco – all of which are in the greater Mexico City metropolitan area – told the newspaper El Financiero that many residents don’t accept that Covid-19 even exists or don’t follow the recommended health measures, such as staying at home, because of their precarious economic situation.

Markets are crowded with people, street food stalls and small restaurants known as fondas continue to attract large numbers of customers, public transit is full, children are playing in the streets and locals are holding parties, they added.

It’s like there is no health risk at all, the doctors said, describing the gatherings as “large focuses of infection.”

The doctors charged that municipal authorities are not doing enough to warn people about Covid-19 and its risks and as a consequence residents are continuing to work, go shopping and eat outside their homes as if coronavirus didn’t exist.

Some patients with the telltale symptoms of coronavirus, such as fever and a dry cough, are not tested for the disease and therefore their illnesses are not classified as Covid-19, they said. The doctors also said that their hospitals lack equipment, medicines and personnel to give adequate treatment to coronavirus patients.

“This situation turns these marginalized areas into a ticking time bomb that could explode very soon,” they told El Financiero.

“After Mexico City, we’re the state with the most cases. … The problem will be huge without the reorganization of hospitals, without [enough] ventilators.”

Mónica Bautista, a federal deputy who represents México state, said that the doctors’ demand for more personal protective equipment (PPE) has not been met. The lack of PPE is the cause of Covid-19 infections among medical personnel in the state, she said, adding that the director of the emergency department at the La Perla hospital in Nezahualcóyotl lost his life to the disease.

Bautista, a lawmaker with the Democratic Revolution Party, was also critical of the fact that some doctors are earning a fortnightly salary of just 8,000 pesos (US $340). The doctors themselves said that about 20% of those employed at public hospitals in several México state municipalities don’t even have a contract and as a result cannot access benefits including free medical care.

Although President López Obrador claimed on Saturday that “the vast majority” of Mexicans are doing the right thing and staying at home as much as possible, the picture painted by the México state doctors tells a very different story.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell also contradicted the president, stating Saturday night that social distancing recommendations are not being adhered to as the government would like in some parts of the country.

“Schools were closed on March 23 and that was the most solid contribution to the healthy distance [initiative] because from one day to the next about 15 million stopped traveling [on the nation’s streets]. The suspension of the remainder of [nonessential] activities was added later but … it hasn’t been fully respected,” he told reporters at the nightly coronavirus press briefing.

López-Gatell called on state health authorities and governors to take the necessary decisions and implement the operations required to ensure that the social distancing rules are upheld.

A stricter “stay at home” rule to limit the spread of Covid-19 took effect in Sonora on Monday and Nuevo León Governor Jaime Rodríguez Calderón said Friday that his government was also considering the option of using the police to ensure people comply with the order not to go out.

Although he said on March 31 that the commencement of the government’s social distancing initiative should soon result in a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases reported on a daily basis, López-Gatell said Saturday that it was still too soon to know the impact of the measures put in place.

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 have continued to rise steadily in April and the total is now approaching 5,000. Just under 300 people in Mexico have lost their lives to the disease, which has now killed close to 120,000 people around the world.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp) 

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 Citlalli Luciana

Fri, 10/04/2020 - 08:29

Municipalities close the way to coronavirus

At least 28 municipalities in Oaxaca have determined to close accesses and exits to their communities as extreme measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 contagion.

The cases documented by the Human Rights Defender of the People of Oaxaca (DDHPO) contemplate San Lorenzo Albarradas, a population that determined to prohibit the entrance to the Hierve el Agua tourist spot.

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Another town is Capulálpam de Méndez, which in addition to closing accesses established a curfew.

Villa Alta did the same, same as this Thursday, according to a complaint from the medical and nursing staff working in the town, by restricting free movement they were retained.

In Santiago Astata the population agreed to close the beaches and their agencies.

In San Dionisio del Mar they closed the main access to the population.

In Valle Nacional they prohibited access to ecotourism areas in San Mateo Yetla.

The same restricted access in Cerro Marín, Rancho Grande, Nuevo Palantla in the Cuenca.

San Juan Mixtepec, San Antonino Monteverde, Santa María Camotlán, Asunción Nochixtlán, Santa María Colotepec, Santa María Huatulco, Tonameca, San Mateo Piñas, San Miguel Puerto, La merced del Potrero, Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, Puerto Escondido Beaches, Zicatela joined with the restriction measures.

In addition, the beaches of Huatulco, Zipolite in Pochutla, likewise San Pedro Mixtepec, Villa de Zachila, Magdalena Apasco Etla, San Andrés Huayapam, Tlalixtac de Cabrera.

Respect for human rights

The head of the DDHPO, Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla indicated that, although the communities that are governed by indigenous regulatory systems have the right to decide in community assembly about internal life, these actions must respect human rights.

“These actions have a limit and this is the limit of human rights. We respect their powers, but we ask that in this decision, human rights not be violated and that these actions be based on scientific criteria, that they be respectful of human dignity, not arbitrary or discriminatory, ”he stressed.

He added that in crisis contexts the population often panics and based on this make radical decisions, however, you should not lose sight of the technical criteria established by the authorities so as not to fall into arbitrariness and discriminatory situations, even placing yourself in risk.

“These geographical spaces or territories may somehow put other rights such as free transit, food and the right to health at risk, since by restricting free transit, it may be that no medicines arrive or an ambulance in the journey from one community to another, if this geographic space is closed, it is probably going to be late to offer a service and could be counterproductive, "he stressed.

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