Tue | Apr 16, 2024

Mexico now number 3 in coronavirus deaths, storm could hinder US response

Published:Saturday | August 1, 2020 | 3:00 PM
A worker wearing protective gear sprays a disinfectant solution inside the coffin of a person who died from suspected COVID-19, as the body arrives at the crematorium at Xilotepec Cemetery in Xochimilco, Mexico City, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Mexico now has the third most COVID-19 deaths in the world, behind Brazil and the United States, where a hurricane bearing down on the East Coast on Saturday is threatening to complicate efforts to contain the virus.

Hurricane Isaias’ imminent arrival forced the closure of some outdoor testing sites even though Florida has become a major hot spot, and other states in the path of the storm prepared emergency shelters that comply with social-distancing measures.

“We had to put safety first,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday.

But Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said no immediate evacuation orders have been given and that hospitals in general are not being evacuated of coronavirus or other patients.

Meanwhile, Mexican health officials on Friday reported 688 new deaths, pushing the country’s confirmed total to over 46,600.

That put Mexico just ahead of the United Kingdom, which has more than 46,100, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University.

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