What we know about coronavirus in Mexico: cases and prevention measures

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Is Mexico prepared for coronavirus? 4:53

(CNN Spanish) - The coronavirus arrived in Mexico. On February 28, the health authorities confirmed two cases of the disease on Mexican soil and until March 2 there were already five cases, according to Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion.

"We have five confirmed cases that we have been reporting every day and a case that we have considered as an asymptomatic carrier," the official said Monday.

"Everyone has had very mild symptoms, in fact almost invisible, as was the case identified in Chiapas," López-Gatell said of the case reported on Sunday, of a person who was reached by authorities through contact of a person who was Sick in Coahuila, and had recently visited northern Italy.

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All people with the coronavirus are in voluntary isolation. According to the official said on Sunday, these people have had “the willingness to collaborate and stay in preventive isolation, understanding that it is of importance, not only to help them recover and be in an appropriate medical observation, but to protect to everyone else".

'It is not a health emergency'

López-Gatell has emphasized the current situation of the coronavirus in Mexico is not a health emergency, because unlike what happened with the H1N1 virus in 2009, this time there is more information, which makes its containment more secure.

“… Unlike what happened to us as a country 10 years ago, today we do know how this virus behaves and we know the speed at which it spreads, we know the proportion of people, the percentage of people who can have serious cases and also the proportion of people who could die related to being elderly, chronic diseases and then have less ability to recover from this infection. ”

But the official warned that the country is experiencing an outbreak of seasonal influence that is characterized by the same symptoms of the current coronavirus: Sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, cough, fever of 38 or more degrees, muscle pain, bone pain, headache.

The measures against coronavirus

To Mexico, the arrival of the coronavirus did not take him by surprise, as the government activated a response plan for the coronavirus since January 9, which includes “preventive travel warning, media monitoring and identification of suspected cases in international passengers from China ”. In addition, as of January 16, the Epidemiological Diagnostic and Reference Institute (Indre) established diagnostic protocols, following WHO guidelines.

López Gatell this Sunday that the country has followed all the international protocols throughout these weeks and that the country was one of the first to activate the mechanisms of epidemic preparation against the coronavirus.

Health authorities are preparing in three stages to contain the virus, López Gatell said last Friday: local broadcast, which could last weeks or never progress; community transmission, in the event that hundreds of people are infected; or widespread transmission, which could take eight to ten weeks "or never occur."

“The call to the population is to, first, know that it exists (the virus); We warned from the beginning: this cannot be contained, ”said López Gatell. “Not containing it does not mean that the transmission cannot be mitigated to the potential extent of eliminating it.

"It is not a serious disease," he added, noting that more than 90% are mild cases, that is, they have symptoms of a common cold, which has a very low risk of mortality in people who are not old or have chronic diseases.

The official said Friday that schools will not be closed, nor is absenteeism planned in the works, and called for people not to greet each other with kisses or shaking hands, to avoid contagion.

"The epidemics are contained in the community with basic hygiene measures: hand washing, prompt attention to symptoms and the reporting of any suspicious cases," he said.

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File photo Some passengers arriving at the International Airport of Mexico City, on January 29, 2020, wore masks in the middle of an outbreak of coronavirus that at that time mainly affected China. A month later, on February 28, 2020, the authorities confirmed two cases of coronavirus in Mexico. (Credit: PEDRO PARDO / AFP via Getty Images)

Other measures

Additionally, Mexico mainly reviews airports in the country to which flights arrive directly from China. There is carried out a screening for symptoms to travelers, although it is not being done in a generalized way.

The Directorate General of Epidemiology published from January 9 a preventive travel notice to China, which suggests “avoid non-essential trips, and if travel is necessary, apply specific preventive measures such as: frequent hand washing using water and soap, consume only well cooked food and drink simple drinking or bottled water. ”

Precisely, the health authorities have insisted on the importance of hand hygiene, of covering the nose with the internal angle of the arm when sneezing, of not touching the face with dirty hands and of cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects of common use . It is also key, experts say, to see a doctor when symptoms of respiratory illnesses occur.

The epidemiological warning issued on January 21 sets out the methods for the timely identification of suspicious cases in Mexico and the relevant prevention measures. Actions to address suspicious cases in Mexico begin with the collection of biological samples for shipment to Indre, as well as their follow-up until the remission of their disease, including their final classification and study of direct contacts.

The Undersecretary of Health said there are two other male people who are under observation despite no symptoms. They are in Mexico City and in the State of Mexico.

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