Mexico updates COVID-19 death toll to over 321,000
- by Leland Aguilar
- in Entertaiment
- — Mar 30, 2021
The number of reported deaths in Mexico linked to the virus now exceeds that of Brazil which was previously the second-hardest hit country by the number of deaths related to the virus, despite Mexico having a smaller population.
Mexico said numerous people in the updated total died at home and never received a positive test, but the government came to the new figure after reviewing "excess deaths" and death certificates.
Since 15 February there have been an additional 26,772 test-confirmed deaths in Mexico. But on Sunday, Mexico shot past Brazil to take over the No. 2 spot for coronavirus deaths after officials announced a massive revision to the country's death toll.
In total, the report identified 417,002 "excess deaths" since the pandemic began, of which 70.6% are estimated to be related to Covid-19.
Many Covid-19 patients in the country of 126 million are believed to have died at home and not been officially counted.
Updated figures on excess mortality in a table published by Mexico's Health Ministry showed that by the end of the sixth week of this year, 294,287 fatalities "associated with Covid-19" had been registered on death certificates in Mexico. COVID deaths are actually as much as 60% higher than previously reported, for a total of more than 321,000, the BBC reports.
Mexico calculates excess deaths by comparing the deaths in a given year to those that would be expected based on data from previous years.
Relatively low testing rates in Mexico mean that many fatalities are not confirmed, but they may still appear in death certificates as suspected cases, experts say.
