Mexico Begins Reopening amid 11 Percent Coronavirus Death Rate

On Monday morning, certain states in Mexico will be given permission to return to a “new normal” as they restart from lockdown. The push to reopen comes as the country climbs to seventh place globally for Coronavirus fatalities.

During a daily news conference, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell said the nation will follow a color-coded system based on the number of cases in each state. Most of Mexico is listed “red” as the virus spreads with an approximate fatality rate of 11 percent.

La Nueva Normalidad del 1 de junio no significa que miles de personas puedan salir a la calle como antes. Las autoridades sanitarias estatales podrán aplicar disposiciones adicionales para evitar contagios, no al contrario. pic.twitter.com/L890A3mp9T

— Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (@HLGatell) May 31, 2020

The most recent federal figures show a current total of 90,664 confirmed cases and 9,930 deaths. Mexico recently surpassed Belgium for seventh place in fatalities.

Al 31 de mayo de 2020 hay 90,664 casos confirmados, 16,962 confirmados activos y 36,803 sospechosos por #COVID19. Se han registrado 147,530 negativos, 9,930 defunciones confirmadas, 788 defunciones sospechosas y fueron estudiadas 274,997 personas. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/vEXm51y7fO

— Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez (@HLGatell) June 1, 2020

In May, Mexico averaged between 1,400 to 3,200 new cases per day as the pandemic is most felt in Mexico City and Baja California. Despite the sharp increase in official figures, federal authorities are still widely accused of under-reporting the true scale.

Lopez Gatell admitted that some of the figures in his reports only account for cases in government hospitals. This discrepancy pushed several states to release their own statistics that show between 30-50 percent more cases.

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.