Even though the Covid-19 epidemic has yet to reach a critical phase in Mexico, dates are being penciled in to get life in this country back to normal.
Speaking Thursday, Federal Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said the contingency plan enforcing school closures, banning large events, restricting economic activity and urging social distancing introduced on March 31 will be extended until May 30, but could be lifted on May 17 in municipalities throughout Mexico with no Covid-19 cases.
López-Gatell said the country as a whole has yet to enter the critical “third” phase (or scenario) of the disease, when Covid-19 transmission becomes “widespread and case numbers are measured in the thousands.”
“Technically” phase three has already occurred in some areas of the country, including Mexico City, Jalisco and Baja California, he said.
The peak of the contagion is expected between May 8 and 10, the deputy minister predicted.
López-Gatell said scientific analysis of Covid-19 suggests that the “first cycle” of the disease will end on June 25. But this will only happen if mitigation measures currently in effect are strictly adhered to, he stressed.
During the Thursday press conference, López Gatell called on all non-essential businesses in Mexico to cease their operations, according to the federal mandate. He said that many plants in Mexico’s central industrial heartland – including Jalisco – were not abiding by the order, and faced penalties if they failed to comply.
López Obrador
Earlier this week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated the Mexican people for their sacrifice in following recommendations and staying at home over the Easter period, hailing this country as “an example to the rest of the world.”
“I am confident that we are doing everything in a professional way, with great responsibility,” he said, highlighting Mexico’s low infection and fatality rates compared with other nations.
Nonetheless, the leftist leader has faced mounting criticism for his refusal to put the nation into debt by injecting money into the stalled economy.
López Obrador refuses to budge, even though his popularity rating has dropped to record lows (for him) of less than 50 percent. He maintains that the economy will recover quickly once the virus threat has receded.
López Obrador has urged businesses that have been forced to close their doors during the shutdown not to lay off staff or cut salaries. On Thursday, he announced that small businesses that have complied with his wishes will get accesses to a special 25,000-peso credit to help them cover costs at this time.
According to some analysts, the economic relief offered by the federal government – mostly to micro and small businesses – comes to just 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP.
This compares to 32 percent in Germany, 18.8 percent in the United Kingdom, 12.5 percent in Italy, 12.4 percent in the United States, and 8.4 percent in Canada, according to data from México Cómo vamos?, the IMF and OECD.