As of February 28, 2020, the undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Mexico, located in the country’s capital. Hours later, the authorities announced the second, now in Sinaloa. 100 days later, the country lives in the so-called ‘New Normality’, with the Epidemiological Traffic Light in red and with more than 110 thousand accumulated confirmed cases.
After learning about the impact of the new coronavirus in countries like Spain and Italy, Mexico began to define its strategy to face the imminent risk. Once the protocols were established, the first stage of the contingency, Phase 1, began on February 28. The main bet was the National Day of Healthy Distance, a program that prioritized social distancing, under the premise of staying at home on a voluntary basis.
The message “Stay at home” began to be replicated through different routes, and gradually the cities of the country began to reduce their influx of pedestrians at their busiest points, while businesses, restaurants, and entertainment centers suspended their work.
The contagion figures began to rise during the following weeks, even without fatal consequences. On March 12, Health authorities confirmed that the first patient with Covid-19 had recovered, after being in isolation for 15 days.
This encouraging picture was soon contrasted when the first death from the disease caused by the new coronavirus was announced on March 18. Five days later, there were already four deaths.
The spread of the pandemic prompted the General Health Council to declare the start of Phase 2 on March 24, after the exponential increase in cases. At the end of the same month, the sanitary emergency decree was published, through which the expansion plan for the Republic’s hospital capacity was launched.
April and May passed with an upward trend in infections and deaths due to Covid-19, in addition to the start of Phase 3.
In these circumstances, the National Day of Healthy Distance came to an end on May 30, to make way for the New Normal, which included the inclusion of more activities in the group of essentials, to try to mitigate the economic damages.
100 days after knowing the first contagion, Mexico adds 110,026 confirmed cases and 13,170 deaths, positioning itself among the 10 countries hardest hit by the pandemic.
Source: marca.com
The Mazatlan Post