Despite Reported Under-Counts, Mexico Surpasses 3,100 Coronavirus Fatalities

Mexican health officials admitted to surpassing 3,100 COVID-19 related-deaths as cases continue to rise nationwide. The reports come despite repeated accusations of the government downplaying the true scope of the coronavirus pandemic.

The most recent statistics released by Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell point to a total of 3,160 fatalities, 31,522 confirmed cases, and 20,571 suspicious cases undergoing testing. Mexico’s federal government has only accounted for 123,446 tests during the pandemic — a figure that is exponentially lower than most other countries facing the coronavirus crisis.

Al 08 de mayo de 2020 hay 31,522 casos confirmados, 8,048 confirmados activos y 20,571 sospechosos por #COVID19. Se han registrado 71,351 negativos, 3,160 defunciones confirmadas, 254 defunciones sospechosas y fueron estudiadas 123,446 personas. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/eCM8oo0yiA

— Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (@HLGatell) May 9, 2020

In previous conferences, Lopez Gatell claimed that the low number of tests is part of an epidemiology model called Sentinel where confirmed cases were multiplied by population-based factors to reach an estimate of the real number of cases. The health official said that his model would account for asymptomatic individuals and those whose symptoms are not serious enough to require hospitalization. However, as Breitbart Texas reported, once the estimated number of cases surpassed 55,000 in early April and the figures were doubling on a weekly basis, Lopez Gatell stopped releasing the reports.

Breitbart Texas reported that Lopez Gatell admitted that the figures released on a nightly basis are only from government hospitals and do not include the cases from private hospitals. Due to the discrepancies in the stats and claiming Lopez Gatell has been downplaying the cases, several states began releasing their own statistics that include figures from both government and private hospitals. Those statistics in some states show twice as many cases as the numbers acknowledged by Lopez Gatell.

On Friday, multiple U.S. outlets released scathing reports on Mexican federal health officials undercounting the number of deaths in Mexico City. During his nightly news conference, Lopez Gatell said he welcomed the debate and dismissed the reports claiming that most of the criticism was politically motivated.

Conferencia de Prensa#COVID19| 8 de mayo de 2020 #GraciasPorCuidarnos https://t.co/G6WCJwHCxf

— SALUD México (@SSalud_mx) May 8, 2020

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.