Government of Mexico announces guidelines for entering the "new normal"

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These are the municipalities that reopen in Mexico 3:05

(CNN Spanish) -  The Ministry of Economy of Mexico established the technical guidelines for health security in the workplace that will govern this Monday, when 323 municipalities, out of a total of 2,465 that exist in the country, enter what the The Mexican government has called it "the new normal."

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called these municipalities "of hope", which means, according to health authorities, that in the last 28 days they have not presented confirmed cases of covid-19, which do not limit with municipalities that present infections or that they register little mobility towards the areas with infections. That is, they are at a green light, so they can suspend confinement.

At the last moment, the municipality of Copala, located on the Costa Chica of Guerrero, was excluded from the list for presenting a case of covid-19, as reported by the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell.

What are the guidelines that companies that resume operations will have to follow?

According to the Secretary of Economy, companies and industries must respond to a document called "Self-evaluation of the Health Safety Protocol", which indicates the measures that will have to be taken to guarantee a safe return to activities.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) will be the one that receives and approves or does not approve the application.

For those who are allowed to resume work, they said, the principle of trust will govern, so it is only planned to carry out "random" inspections to verify compliance.

Each company must process the operating permit. “Answer a questionnaire - there are about 60 questions - the company makes the commitment, be it in the mining, construction, or automotive industries, they make the commitment to act responsibly… under protest to tell the truth and they leave to go giving permission, authorization, with protocols, that is, you cannot have all the workers again. You have to watch capacity, you have to watch the entrance, the exit of the workers, you have to take the temperature (…) ”, explained López Obrador.

The measure of the staggered return to normality takes place when the country is at the maximum contagion of the epidemic, with 49,219 confirmed cases, 5,177 people dead and 27,507 suspected patients, according to the official report this Sunday.

Due to this, some governors, including those of Jalisco, Yucatan, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Puebla, have indicated that they are inclined to continue the quarantine until the end of May, despite the fact that some of the "municipalities of hope" , are in their territories.

On May 31st, the “National Healthy Distance Day” program will conclude in Mexico throughout the country and it will be then, the health authorities have said, when a new evaluation will be carried out to find out if confinement is lifted at the national level, or if it is postponed in some areas. One of them could be Mexico City, which has, so far, the highest number of infections in the country.

coronavirus