COVID-19 mortality rate 'very substantially reduced' in Mexico

MEXICO CITY - The mortality rate from COVID-19 has been "very substantially reduced" in Mexico thanks to progress in the vaccination drive, even as the country faces a third outbreak, the Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 mortality rate currently stands at 1.9 percent, down from the 11 percent registered in January 2021 and the 22 percent of July 2020, the two worst pandemic months in Mexico.

Deaths from COVID-19 are currently 87 percent lower than January and 77 percent less compared to July 2020, said Lopez-Gatell, who was accompanied by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"Even though new cases are appearing and even though the virus is spreading in the country ... the probability that people who are sick end up in serious condition or end up needing hospitalization or, even worse, die, has been very substantially reduced," said the official.

The drop in the mortality rate is largely due to the fact that 89.4 million people, 48 percent of the population over 18 years of age, have already gotten at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, especially older people who are more vulnerable to the pandemic, the official said.

According to government statistics, the National Vaccination Plan launched in December has reached 43 million people, protecting them with at least one dose of a vaccine.