Mexico admits that the COVID-19 death toll is actually 60 percent higher than originally reported

Published by BBN Staff at March 28, 2021

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Posted: Sunday, March 28, 2021. 9:20 am CST.

By Benjamin Flowers: Mexico officially has the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world, following an admission by the country’s government on Saturday that it was under-reporting the number of deaths by as much as 60 percent, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Yesterday, Mexico’s government issued a report acknowledging that the number of deaths due to COVID-19 was above 321,000, instead of the previously reported figure which was just above 201,000. 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 does little testing, and because hospitals were overwhelmed, many Mexicans died at home without getting a test. The only way to get a clear picture is to review “excess deaths” and review death certificates,” the AP said.

Mexico calculates excess deaths by comparing the deaths in a given year to those that would be expected based on data from previous years. The calculations in the report suggested that excess deaths juped from 220,000 to around 295,000 between the end of December 2020 and February 2021.

“A review of death certificates found about 70.5% of the excess deaths were COVID-19 related, often because it was listed on the certificates as a suspected or contributing cause of death. But some experts say COVID-19 may have contributed to many of the other excess deaths because many people couldn’t get treatment for other diseases because hospitals were overwhelmed,” the AP added.

Former President Felipe Calderón, Tweeted on Saturday that “more than 400,000 Mexicans have died, above the average for previous years … probably the highest figure in the world.”

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