MEXICO CITY (Border Report) — The World Health Organization says “Mexico is in bad shape” when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic and is urging Mexico’s leaders to get serious about the coronavirus.
Mexico’s COVID-19 deaths have risen to 105,940, the fourth-highest in the world, with more than 1.1 million confirmed cases. True figures are suspected to be higher due to lack of adequate testing in Mexico.
Mexican President Andrés López Obrador has been criticized for often not wearing a mask.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is urging Mexico’s leaders to take pandemic seriously.
“The number of increasing cases and deaths in Mexico is very worrisome,” Tedros said. “We would like to ask Mexico to be very serious, we have said it in general: Wearing a mask is important, hygiene is important and physical distancing is important, and we expect leaders to be examples.”
Hugo López-Gatell, Mexico’s point person on the pandemic, was critical of Tedros’ comments and scolded the media for “being alarmists.”
“You don’t have to add drama,” López-Gatell told reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
