Mexico says COVID-19 has affected a fourth of its population

FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks wait at a traffic junction as Mexico City’s authorities announce a full reopening of the city come Monday, the first time since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Mexico June 4, 2021. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY  — About a quarter of Mexico’s 126 million people are estimated to have been infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, far more than the country’s confirmed infections.

The 2020 National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) showed that about 31.1 million people have had the virus, the ministry said in a statement, citing Tonatiuh Barrientos, an official at the National Institute of Public Health.

The estimate was given as the country recorded 3,282 new cases and 243 more fatalities, taking its total number of confirmed infections to 2,448,820 and the death toll to 229,823.

The government has said previously the real number of cases was likely to be significantly higher.

According to Barrientos, not all of the people in the survey’s estimate necessarily showed symptoms. The survey was based on interviews with people at 13,910 households between Aug. 17 and Nov. 14 last year, and confirmed preliminary results released in December.

Separate data published in March suggested Mexico’s actual death toll was at least 60% above the confirmed figure.

/MUF