Mexico’s Death Toll Surpasses China’s

Mexico’s COVID-19 death toll rose to 4,767, surpassing the total number of deaths reported in China, while positive cases increased to 45,032, the Ministry of Health has reported. Over 290 new deaths and 2,437 more positive cases were added in the last 24 hours.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said 300,000 more test-kits are arriving to Mexico to keep the monitoring strategy progressing. “These tests can reach all states. The purchase of 300,000 will be added to the 101,900 we already have,” he said. Alomía pointed out that Baja California joined the group of states with more than 3,000 confirmed cases, along with Mexico City and State of Mexico.

As of Friday, May 15

2,437     new cases (from yesterday)

45,032   confirmed cases nationwide

29,028   under investigation

4,767     deaths

Impact on markets (19.30 hrs)

US Dollar              MX$24.00            (-0.23%)

BMV IPC               35,691.39             (-1.12%)

Dow Jones          23,685.42             (0.25%)

FDI grows in Q1

Foreign direct investment (FDI) grew 1.7 percent in Q1 compared to the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Economy (SE) has reported based on preliminary figures. In the first three months of the year, over US$10.3 billion were collected from companies and trusts as a result of the difference between US$15.6 billion inflows and US$5.2 billion outflows.

More ventilators are needed

Minister of Foreign Affairs (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard acknowledged that ventilators are needed to serve the most critical COVID-19 patients in Mexico. “We do have a very serious problem, we need ventilators,” he said in a virtual message. After representatives of BBVA Foundation and Grupo México announced the donation of 1,448 ventilators imported from China, Ebrard praised the collaboration with these companies.

Mexico requests US help for masks

President López Obrador reported that he will request one million high-quality masks from the US Government because they are in short supply and their commercial prices are too high. “We are about to get one million good quality face masks. We are going to make a call to the United States Government for this,” he said.

Afore's unemployment withdrawals increase

During April, retirement funds (Afores) registered a MX$1.59 billion output for partial unemployment withdrawals, CONSAR has reported. This result implies a growth of 90 percent with respect April of last year. The January to April accumulated amount is MX$5.12 billion, which represented an annual increase of 46 percent in unemployment withdrawals.

Production activity could start sooner

Construction, mining and auto part manufacturing companies may resume operations before June 1 as long as they have all health and safety protocols, the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) reported. A modification on Thursday’s publication states that from May 18 to May 31 actions will have to be carried out to prepare for the reopening of activities, but if a company fully complies with all health and safety protocols established by the Ministry of Health, then it can resume operations.

Crude finishes the week with gains

The Mexican crude basket rose 7.19 percent in today’s trading, closing the week at US$24.74 per barrel, according to PEMEX. Mexican crude posted a 13 percent gain over during the week. WTI also rose 7.8 percent to US$29.71 a barrel while Brent increased 5.49 percent to US$32.84 per barrel.

Joint effort to develop vaccine

The Mexico City government and UNAM will create a Level-3 laboratory to prepare a vaccine against COVID-19, Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SECTEI) head Rosaura Ruiz announced. In a videoconference the Mexico City official explained that the local administration will fund the construction of the specialized laboratory, which could be located in UNAM’s veterinary faculty.