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Quintana Roo sees more positive cases, while government says country statistics likely closer to 26,500

Cancun, Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The Secretary of Health for Quintana Roo reports another increase in positive cases around the state which this time, also includes a death. Alejandra Aguirre Crespo, Secretaria de Salud del Estado de Quintana Roo says updated figures reflect another rise in positive cases, namely in Cancun and one new coronavirus-related death reported in Tulum.

In the last 24 hours, eight confirmed positive cases have been added, which is an increase of 5.7 percent.

As 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, the state reported 674 suspected coronavirus cases of which 321 have already been ruled out, 207 are under study and 146 were confirmed as positive. Of the latter, 10 people have died (one more than yesterday), 77 remain in social isolation, 25 remain hospitalized and 34 have already recovered.

Benito Juárez leads the way with 100 positive cases and five deaths, while Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen, Paamul, Puerto Aventuras) remained at 31 cases and 3 deaths. In Tulum (Chemuyil, Akumal, Cobá, Francisco Uh May, Punta Allen, Yaxché), there were no increase in positive cases, however, the municipality did record its first death.

With 146 positive infections and 10 deaths, the Government of Mexico confirmed that Quintana Roo is the state leader in mortality rates with 0.58 percent, even above Mexico City, according to figures from the Federal Ministry of Health.

Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, the Subsecretario de Prevención y Promoción de la Salud, reported that across Mexico there are currently 3,181 confirmed cases, 9,188 suspected cases, 17,209 negative cases and 174 deaths adding that of the confirmed cases, 2,257 (71 percent) have been mild and 924 (29 percent) have required hospitalization.

During his update, he also explained that actual figures are likely much higher, closer to 26,500 based on an estimate by the Vigilancia Centinela model which indicates that the number corresponds to people who “did not go for a consultation, had no symptoms or their doctor did not definition of their case,” he said.

“From what you can see, the epidemic is eight times bigger,” he added during the press conference. López-Gatell explained that the estimation of cases is based on a model called Vigilancia Centinela, which monitors the number of cases in 375 health units and from there is extrapolated to the entire country.

He noted that in the case of Mexico, each of the 3,181 cases represent 12 other people who did not go to a clinic or whose doctor did not identify the symptoms. López Gatell explained that this model, established in Mexico in 2006, seeks to understand how the pandemic works beyond the confirmed cases.