Mexico has already surpassed 200,000 deaths from COVID-19

A little over a year after the start of the pandemic in Mexico, 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 have been officially recorded. A figure three times higher than the “catastrophic” scenario anticipated by the authorities.

Mexico’s COVID-19 death toll puts the country between the first four in the world to cross that dark threshold, as it struggles to speed up the vaccination rate.

Some citizens implore others to do their part to prevent infections from resuming in the days following the Easter holidays. and after hospitals in the country’s most populous urban centers, such as Mexico City and the neighboring state of Mexico, were overwhelmed in the latest wave.

“It’s a shame that we are starting to think that because the vaccine is already there, everything is already solved. It’s up to us that it doesn’t go any further, ”said Pamela Padilla, 30, who said she was tired of the isolation or having to distance herself socially when leaving.

Mexico began vaccinating its population against COVID-19 late last year, one of the first countries in Latin America, but the campaign has been hampered, among other things, due to delays in the delivery of doses, which led the government to complain about hoarding by rich countries.

Until wednesday, Mexico administered 6.1 million vaccines, with just 767,979 people following the full two-dose schedule, or just 0.6% of the population., while in the United States, 130.5 million doses have been applied in total and 14% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to official data.

To better protect citizens against a possible new wave of infections, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured this week that he would call on the armed forces and medical personnel to speed up the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to official figures, Mexico reported 5,787 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday Yes 584 additional deathsbreeding the total to 2,214,542 infections Yes 200,211 deaths.

The government itself has acknowledged that the actual number of infections and deaths is higher than the official count.

“It’s a sadness to see how many people die”Yolanda Santos, 74, lamented after receiving her second dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. “It’s a godsend for us to have these vaccines,” she added.

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