Mexico reaches 717 infections by coronavirus, president toughens speech

MEXICO CITY, Mar 27 (Reuters) – Mexico reported 132 new cases of the coronavirus in the country on Friday, bringing the number to a total of 717 people infected, while President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave a more forceful speech regarding the measures. to take to stop the outbreak.

Health authorities reported that in the last few hours there were four new deaths related to the coronavirus, bringing the number of fatalities to 12, Christian Arturo Zaragoza, director of Epidemiological Information, said at a press conference.

Later, the president exhorted in a 14-minute video the population to stay at home and follow the measures carried out to stop the spread of the virus that has infected 551,823 people and claimed the lives of at least 24,887, threatening to trigger a deep global recession.

“If we don’t prevent, the economy may fall further,” said López Obrador. “If we do not retreat to our homes, this can happen, we will shoot up infection cases, and we will saturate the hospitals, the beds, even when we are prepared. It will be somewhat overwhelming,” he added later. .

The speech contrasts with the one shown in past weeks, after being recorded at a public act kissing a girl, and with that of another more recent message on his social networks where he asked Mexicans not to stop going to the inns and restaurants, for which he received much criticism.

López Obrador’s rudder hit came after confirmed cases of coronavirus disease hit 100,040 across the border United States on Friday, the highest number in the world, according to a Reuters count.

(Report by Noé Torres, Sharay Angulo and Daina Beth Solomon)