Mexico City, Mexico — Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that Cancún is one of the cities at a critical moment due to the COVID-19 epidemic with health officials declaring a peak and light at the end of the tunnel.
During his Friday press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that Cancun, Mexico City and Tijuana are among those facing the most difficult stage of the epidemic, saying they are experiencing critical moments.
He said that between May 6 and 8, the most critical stage of the epidemic is expected, noting that Cancun and other cities in Mexico will be at the peak of the disease, adding that isolation measures must continue throughout the country.
“Citizens have acted in an exemplary manner and despite the sacrifices, they have participated by staying at home,” he said.
The Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell says that Cancun, one of the places with the highest incidence of COVID-19 “is very close” and “very soon to emerge from the epidemic.”
He explained that according to calculations, “we are projecting this first cycle, which would exhaust nearly 95 percent of the expected cases by June 25, and, as what usually happens in all epidemics with a thread, a tail, a continuity of the epidemic, there will be a very low transmission that lasts for several more weeks.”
“The peak moment will be May 6. We have a week to go until that moment and then the curve will begin to descend only if the appropriate isolation measures are followed, so stay home,” he added.
Regarding Cancun, “This turning point has not yet manifested in the observed data, but they have noticed a stabilization in the influx of patients. We are very close to starting a decline after which Cancun would be very soon to emerge from the epidemic,” said López-Gatell.
The undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion reported that Cancun should have reached its peak of cases April 30, but according to information provided by the head of the State Secretariat of Health Alejandra Aguirre Crespo, the decrease in infections has not yet been presented.
“She tells me (Aguirre Crespo) that this inflection point, this point of decrease has not yet manifested itself in the observed data, but she has noticed less influx, a stabilization for less than the influx of patients,” he said during the conference.
López Gatalle pointed out that the decrease in cases does not imply a relaxation of sanitary measures, as it could mean a new escalation of cases but, “the light is already visible at the end of the tunnel,” said the federal official.
During the conference, he said in addition to Cancun, Mexico City, Baja California, Sinaloa and Tabasco are the places with the highest incidence, reiterating that municipalities with low or no transmission will have their restrictions lifted as of May 17, while the rest of the country will remain in lockdown until May 30.