The Mexican government admitted on Saturday that the actual death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic is higher than what it had reported so far.
The country is close to 322,000, exceeding the 201,623 official deaths reported as of Sunday based on diagnostic tests, that is,
60% higher
.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, there were 294,287 deaths associated with COVID-19 between the start of the pandemic and February 14.
Since February 15, there have been another 37,535 deaths confirmed with diagnostic tests.
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This places the country as the second in the world with the most deaths.
Brazil occupied this place so far, with 312,000 deaths, behind the United States, with 549,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University database.
But the population of Mexico, with 126 million people,
is much smaller than that of these two countries
, that of the United States is about 330 million and that of Brazil is 213 million.
Seniors hold bandages after receiving China's Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine during the mass vaccination program in Mexico City, Mexico March 25, 2021. REUTERS / Edgard Garrido
The new report also confirms
how deadly the second wave of infections suffered by Mexico in January was
.
At the end of December, estimates of excess mortality were about 220,000 COVID-19-related deaths in Mexico.
That number grew by about 75,000 people in just a month and a half.
Also striking is the volume of excess total mortality since the start of the pandemic, about 417,000.
Excess mortality is determined by comparing deaths in a given year with those that would have been expected based on data from previous years.
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Also, an analysis of death certificates determined that around 70.5% of excess mortality was related to COVID-19, often because it was mentioned in the certificates as a factor or possible cause of death.
But some experts say that
COVID-19 could have contributed to many other deaths because many people were unable to receive treatment
for other illnesses because hospitals were overwhelmed.
Mexico does few diagnostic tests, and since hospitals were overwhelmed, many Mexicans died at home without taking the test.
The only way to get a clear picture is to review excess mortality and death certificates.
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Since the beginning of the pandemic, Mexico has opted for a strategy that consists of carrying out few tests, as shown by its positivity rate close to 50%, and focusing on expanding hospital capacity instead of stopping infections.
The publication 'Excess Mortality in Mexico' also documented an excess mortality from all causes of 417,002 in the period 2020-2021.
This means that there were
more than 1.2 million deaths for all reasons nationwide
despite the expected 846,499 based on the historical trend from 2015 to 2019.
This is a percentage of accumulated excess of deaths of 49.3%, according to the report.
1.5 million vaccines arrive from AstraZeneca
Meanwhile, 1.5 million vaccines against the coronavirus from AstraZeneca arrived at the Mexico City airport from Chicago on Sunday night, out of a total of 2.7 million that the United States will lend to the Mexican government.
"Mexico thanks the Government of President (Joe) Biden for its authorization to AstraZeneca to send 2.7 million doses of vaccines manufactured by that company to our country," said the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard.
With information from The Associated Press and EFE.
