Mexico registers sustained reduction of the coronavirus pandemic despite return to school

The third wave of the pandemic covid-19 on Mexico chains a “sustained reduction” of infections despite the return to face-to-face classes more than a month ago, authorities reported Tuesday.

“We are already fortunate that for ten consecutive weeks the third wave of the epidemic has been reducing, reducing, reducing in all indicators,” said the government strategist against the coronavirus, Hugo López-Gatell.

During the morning press conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the epidemiologist stressed that at the beginning of the week there was a 30% reduction in infections compared to the previous week, which is “the most sustained reduction stretch” in what that goes from pandemic.

In addition, he highlighted that “only a quarter of the covid hospital beds are occupied.”

The Ministry of Health of Mexico reported 141 new deaths from the covid-19 to reach 282,227 deaths, in addition to another 2,007 new cases for a total of 3.73 million confirmed infections.

On August 30, in the middle of the third wave, face-to-face classes returned in Mexico after more than a year closed due to the concern of some parents about the health situation.

“No sign has been shown that the opening of schools will result in a rebound in the epidemic,” López-Gatell stressed.

The Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion reported that infections have only been registered in 253 schools, 0.25% of the total.

In addition, he recalled that among minors “practically all the cases are mild.”

At the same press conference, the head of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), Delfina Gómez, reported that 16.4 million students have returned to the classroom.

Of the 126 million inhabitants of Mexico, 66.7 million have completed the vaccination schedule so far.

The government’s goal is to have vaccinated all adults in the country with at least one dose in October. At the moment, 75% of the population over 18 years of age have at least one dose.

All the states of the country already have the number of vaccines necessary to meet that goal, with the exception of Guanajuato, which will receive them in the coming days.

López-Gatell called on relatives to register children with chronic diseases on the vaccination portal so that their next immunization can be planned.

For now, only 23,000 minors have been registered when the Government estimates more than one million.