Mexico City (Reuters) – Mexico City and neighboring Mexico have suspended non-core activities due to rising coronavirus infections and deaths that are rapidly saturating hospitals, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Friday.
The suspension will take effect on Saturday and will last until January 10, Lopez-Gatell announced at a press conference.
“The rise of the epidemic in this region requires further action and we have come to the conclusion that extraordinary action is needed,” said Lopez-Gatell, who was accompanied by Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico Governor Alfredo del Mazo.
Lopez-Gatell said the temporary suspension is aimed at limiting people who gather and travel, which would help reduce the contagion.
The new measures come after Sheinbaum declared a “COVID-19 emergency” in Mexico City last week.
Despite warnings, Mexico City and the adjacent state of Mexico, home to more than 20 million people, have witnessed frantic holiday shopping, people flooding shopping districts, buying Christmas presents from street vendors and waiting in long lines to enter stores. .
Mexico reported 1.29 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 116,487 deaths since Thursday, although actual cases and deaths are thought to be much higher.
The capital recorded more than 19,000 deaths related to the new coronavirus and a fifth of confirmed cases in Mexico.
(Reporting by Diego Ore and Anthony Esposito, written by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Alistair Bell)