On March 27, Mexico’s President urged people to stay home to prevent an “overwhelming” spread of COVID-19. This has been López Obrador’ s strongest stance against the coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 27,000 people worldwide and infected nearly 600,000.
“We have to stay in our homes, we have to keep a healthy distance ,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a 14-minute video posted on YouTube, warning that the health system may not be able to cope with a mass outbreak of cases, even when Mexico has registered 993 COVID-19 cases, fewer cases than many other countries.
On March 29, Mexican health officials reported 993 cases and 20 coronavirus-related deaths .
“If we don’t stay inside our homes the number of infection cases could shoot up, and it would saturate our hospitals ,” he said. “It would be overwhelming.”
López Obrador also acknowledged that the economic impact of a major coronavirus outbreak would be worse in the long run if companies don’t send employees home.
“I know this is going to mean costs, but we could be losing more. Without prevention , the economy could fall even more,” he said. Mexico slipped into a mild recession in 2019, and the struggling economy was one factor that pushed the President’s approval rating below 50% for the first time since he took office in December 2019.
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In recent weeks, López Obrador has been criticized for holding mass events throughout Mexico and hugging and kissing supporters, even after experts urged people to avoid physical contact.
Last week, the federal government launched a strategy to halt the spread of coronavirus and halted all non-essential federal government activities and ordered companies to send the elderly, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses home and pay them their full salary.
Additionally, Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico’s COVID-19 czar and the Deputy Health Minister, asked Mexicans to stay at home for a month, saying it was the only way to reduce the coronavirus transmission rate .
Through a video posted on his Twitter account, Dr. López Gatell once again urged Mexicans to stay home.
In the video, López Gatell emphasized that the government created a series of strategies based on b, which has been supervised by the WHO and health agencies from several countries, to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic , nevertheless, he emphasized how important it is for people to stay home to flatten the curve .
He said people must stay home at least until April 19 .
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