The Christmas festival, in the Zócalo of Mexico City.Madla Hartz (EFE)
In the middle of the December season, the red flags of a rebound in coronavirus infections in Mexico have begun to light up. The country has registered a total of 8,024 positive cases in the last 24 hours, a level that had not been observed since last September. While the Ministry of Health insists on remaining calm in the face of the rebound in the pandemic in the world, statistics show an upward trend in states such as Baja California Sur, Quinta Roo and Mexico City. The escalation of infections in specific points of the national territory coincides with the suspense that the world is experiencing before the spread of the new omicron variant.According to the figures compiled by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) in Mexico, the cases of covid-19 caused by the new version of the virus went from 42 to 254 in just four days. Since the pandemic began to date, more than 3.9 million people have been infected in Mexico and 299,285 have died from the disease.
As happened during the third wave, tourist enclaves are already registering an upward trend in both confirmed cases of coronavirus. The State of Baja California Sur —one of the country's tourist jewels — has the highest rate of active covid-19 infections in the country: with 197 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, more than 13 times higher than the national rate. In the last week recorded, it added more than 719 sick patients, an increase of 162% compared to the previous week. The governor of Baja California Sur, Víctor Castro, acknowledged this week that diagnoses are “growing a lot, a lot”, to such a degree that the State “is in the red light”, mainly in Los Cabos.
In parallel, Quintana Roo also already presents an upward trend in the case of infections during the last two weeks. At least 218 positive diagnoses were reported in the State, representing an increase of 120% compared to the previous week. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Health, as of December 30, the 10 entities that accumulate the most infections are Mexico City, State of Mexico, Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Tabasco, Puebla, Veracruz, Sonora and San Luis Potosí.
While the cases continue to rise, the federal government insists on focusing its strategy on vaccination and not on greater measures of confinement or restriction of commercial activities. Since the beginning of the epidemic, the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has defended a less restrictive approach in the management of the pandemic and drastic measures of confinement or the mandatory nature of face masks and vaccination have been ruled out. On this occasion, the federal authorities support their optimism that the official figures for deaths and hospitalizations remain at lower levels compared to the third wave. According to the Ministry of Health, nationwide the percentage of hospital occupancy is around 15% in general beds. But nevertheless,the government's own data show that in the State of Chihuahua the occupancy level already exceeds 60%.
Despite the report of a 20% increase in cases compared to the previous week, the Government of Mexico City has decided to continue on the green traffic light, which means that the confinement measures will not be tightened nor will commercial activities be restricted to avoid the risk of contagion. The Head of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, has admitted the increase in cases, but has defended her decision on the grounds that hospitalizations "remain stable" and have not reported an increase in occupancy. Since the beginning of the pandemic to date, the capital has added 998,578 sick and 52,815 deaths.
Andreu Comas, researcher and academic at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP), explains that, as happened in past waves, Mexico is being affected by the arrival of international tourists without vaccination certification requirements.
“Although López-Gatell says that the epidemic is decreasing, this is not true because the other day about 4,000 cases were reported, 5,000 cases.
The epidemic is already on a clear increase and from the second week of January the size of the stride will already be seen ”, ditch.
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