Mexico announces health emergency as confirmed coronavirus cases top 1,000

AFP

Mexico declared a health emergency on Monday and issued stricter rules aimed toward containing the fast-spreading coronavirus after its number of cases surged past 1,000 and therefore the price rose sharply.
Health officials reported a complete of 1,094 cases of coronavirus, up from 993 each day earlier, and eight more deaths, taking the entire to twenty-eight . They reiterated warnings that Mexico's health system might be overwhelmed if the coronavirus isn't contained.

The new measures to fight the virus include a discount of the amount of individuals who can gather to 50 and an extension of a previously announced suspension of non-essential activities.

"This applies – strictly – to people older than 60 years, those that have hypertension, diabetes or are pregnant, regardless whether their jobs are considered essential," said Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell.

Mexico has one among the world's highest rates of both obesity and diabetes, and experts have recently sounded the alarm that its population could therefore be more vulnerable than its relatively young average age might suggest.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who announced the health emergency, said that folks or companies who ignored the principles would face administrative or penal actions. The emergency would be effective until April 30, he said.

Unlike most regional peers, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has not ordered a lockdown or other drastic measures to regulate spread of the coronavirus thanks to concerns Mexico's already slumping economy would take a good bigger hit.

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