Mexico reports lowest daily coronavirus death toll in over a year

FILE PHOTO: School workers line up before receiving a dose of China’s CanSino COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination for teachers and school staff against coronavirus disease in Mexico City, Mexico May 18, 2021. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s health ministry on Sunday registered 50 new confirmed deaths from COVID-19, the lowest daily increase reported from the pandemic in over a year, according to government data.

The rise, which brought the official death toll to 221,647, was the smallest since the final Sunday of April 2020, and it follows a steady decline in new daily infections in Mexico during recent weeks as a vaccine roll-out gathers pace.

Mexico has said the real number of coronavirus deaths and infections is likely considerably higher than the official tally. Separate government data has suggested the death toll could be at least 60% above the confirmed figure.

The ministry on Sunday also reported 1,274 new COVID-19 infections, lifting the total to 2,396,604.

Despite the upbeat data, efforts to get life back to normal suffered a setback at the weekend, with authorities in the states of Campeche and Nayarit saying a return to teaching in schools had been suspended due to an uptick in infections.