Mexico in bad shape with coronavirus: WHO
MEXICO CITY: The head of the World Health Organization said that “Mexico is in bad shape” with the pandemic and urged its leaders be serious about the coronavirus and set examples for its citizens.
WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s comments came Monday as Mexico’s death toll rose to 105,940 — the fourth highest in the world — with 1,113,543 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus. The country’s actual numbers are believed to be much higher partly because of low testing levels.
“The number of increasing cases and deaths in Mexico is very worrisome,” he said in a press briefing.
Mexican President Andrés López Obrador has been criticized for oten not wearing a mask and while not mentioning names or specific cases, the WHO chief urged the country’s leaders to take the pandemic seriously.
“We would like to ask Mexico to be very serious,” he said. “We have said it in general, wearing a mask is important, hygiene is important and physical distancing is important and we expect leaders to be examples ...”
The Mexican government’s pointman on the pandemic, Hugo López-gatell, said all the comments are valuable but noted the government had already warned that with the arrival of winter the situation would worsen. According its latest data, the pandemic has grown by 7% in the past week.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador marks two years in office Tuesday faced with a soaring coronavirus death toll and economic crisis that have had litle obvious impact on his popularity.
The letist leader known as AMLO came to power on December 1, 2018 promising to “transform” the country ater sweeping aside the two political parties that had ruled for decades.
The former Mexico City mayor’s first year in office was dominated by his pro-austerity, antigrat crusade, as well as concerns over a stagnant economy and violent crime. Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which the 67-year-old this week described as the biggest challenge of his second year by far. The World Health Organization warned Monday that Mexico was “in bad shape” ater a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Lopez Obrador, who holds a press conference every weekday, is rarely seen wearing a mask and has been accused of not doing enough to promote their use.