Mexico has now displaced Brazil as the country with the second-most numbre of deaths associated with COVID-19 after the United States. Over 3.2 lakh people have died from COVID-19 in the country after the health ministry revised its death toll figures upwards by 60 per cent.
Health ministry figures in a revised report showed that by the end of the sixth week of 2021, 294,287 people had died for reasons “associated with COVID-19”, up from the 182,301 confirmed deaths stated earlier. Since then, at least 26,772 people have died from COVID-19 across Mexico, taking t the total to more than 3.2 lakh.
Brazil, with 3.1 lakh deaths, is now behind Mexico.
Mexico, with a population of just 126 million, has fared worse against the coronavirus than both Brazil (population: 2.1 crore, with over 3.1 lakh deaths) and the United States (3.2 crore population, 5.49 lakh deaths).
By number of cases, Mexico at 2.2 million is the 13th most affected country in the world. Many experts say the true death and case toll is much higher as critics point out that the country has not tested enough. On Sunday, the country reported 1,783 new cases and 194 more deaths.
Mexico saw a second wave of infections strike in January, a month before a launch of a vaccination drive with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, administered to those above 60. On Sunday night, the country received 1.5 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine made in the United States, as part of an accord made by US President Joe Biden with Mexico.
In January, Mexican President Lopez Obrador tested positive for the virus.
