López-Gatell Warns Flu Could Match COVID-19

The Ministry of Health reported 5,858 more COVID-19 cases than yesterday, raising the total number of infections to 498,380. Over 737 deaths in the last 24 hours brought the accumulated total to 54,666.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía pointed out that there are 83,473 suspected cases still waiting for laboratory results and that 42,530 cases have been registered in the last 14 days, which is 8 percent of the accumulated total.

In today’s briefing Deputy Minister of Health Hugo López-Gatell acknowledged that the flu season will be from October to March or April 2021, so he expects that the COVID-19 outbreak can increase its transmission in winter. “This would represent a significant challenge for the health system, since there would be two similar respiratory diseases that could lead to many people hospitalized,” he said.

As of Wednesday, August 12

5,858 new cases (from yesterday)

498,380 confirmed cases nationwide

83,743   under investigation

54,666   deaths

Impact on markets (19.30 hrs)

US Dollar              MX$22.33            (0.01%)

BMV IPC               38,634.10             (-0.18%)

Dow Jones          27,976.84             (1.05%)

Argentina and Mexico will produce vaccine

Argentina and Mexico will be in charge of the Latin American production for the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine, Argentinian President Alberto Fernández has reported. He noted that AstraZeneca signed an agreement with the Slim Foundation to produce between 150 and 250 million vaccines for Latin America, with the exception of Brazil. Vaccines will be available in the first half of 2021 and will be distributed evenly among regional countries, Fernández said.

Mundo Maya aims to boost tourism

The states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Chiapas and Campeche signed the collaboration agreement Mundo Maya, Mexico, which aims to boost the tourism industry recovery. Besides improving local economies, the agreement aims to involve local people in the tourism industry.

1,117,584 jobs lost in pandemic months

Mexico has lost a total of 1,117,584 formal jobs during the five months since the COVID-19 pandemic stared, according to data from the IMSS. In July, 3,907 jobs were lost,95 percent lower than the figure observed in June and the lowest figure for the same month since 2005.

Tourism sector to struggle

Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic the federal government foresees three scenarios for the arrival of foreign tourists, with a decrease of tourism of between 55.3 and 57.1 percent expected. Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR) reported that in the most optimistic scenario, where the epidemiological traffic light would be green by the end of the year, there would be 20.11 million foreign travelers arriving in 2020, representing a 55.3 percent plunge on last year.

Banxico faces a triple challenge

Banxico faces a triple challenge in its monetary decision: upward pressure from inflation, a contracted economy and a market that must remain attractive for investors, Bank of America Securities, Goldman Sachs, BBVA Research and Wealth Management Advisors México (WMA) analyst have agreed, before the central bank decision on monetary policies to be announced tomorrow. The Mexican currency had no changes in today’s trading..

Pfizer, BioNTech vaccine moves forward

The Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine induced a robust immune response in healthy adults aged between 18 and 55 , according to an interim report of an early phase clinical trial published in science magazine, Nature.

Peru announces Sunday’s curfew

Peru President Martín Vizcarra announced that the south American country will re-establish Sunday’s curfew and social and family gatherings prohibition. “We have to take a step back in the measures that we were easing,” Vizcarra said. Peru is third in Latin America for COVID-19 infections and deaths, behind Brazil and Mexico.