On May 15, Mexico has added another 290 fatalities in its rising death toll and just a few days ago on May 12, the country experienced its highest death toll since the start of the pandemic with 353 recorded deaths in a single day. The country has now surpassed China's mortality rate as it copes with the rising number of daily infections.

Mexico now has 45,032 confirmed cases and a total of 4,767 deaths. Millions are on lockdown which had devastating effects to the country's economy as the majority of the sectors are on a stand still.

The public demands for increased mass testing

Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lòpez-Gatell, an epidemiologist and considered as the face of Mexico's COVID-19 response has insisted that the country has enough funds to purchase more test kits, in fact hundreds of thousands are arriving from China in the next few days. 

Lòpez-Gatell maintained that only those who are expressing severe symptoms of the coronavirus are the only ones who will be tested. He firmly rejects the idea that mass testing is a must and should only be used through a carefully planned approach. 

Since the beginning, Mexico's testing strategy has remained the same and the Health Minister believes that it would be futile to conduct test after test if it will only yield negative results. In Puerto Vallarta, only 483 tests have been conducted during the past two months and only 20 tests were done in the last 24 hours. The same goes with Jalisco which only registered 139 tests in the past 24 hours. 

Mexico's former health minister, Dr. Julio Frenk believes that the situation is quite worrisome because without massive testing we will never know the true extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in Mexico.

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Phase three of the fight against COVID-19

Last month, Mexico has already reached phase three of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic which the government describes as the worst period of the pandemic. All public events have been canceled. Hugging, kissing, and shaking hands are strictly prohibited and everyone is reminded of the importance of staying at home and practicing social distancing. 

At present the government has revealed another three-phase plan, which are steps to be taken in order for them to safely reopen the country. Phase one starts as early as May 18 by opening 269 municipalities with the lowest number of COVID-19 cases. Phase two also begins on May 18 but will run until May 31, and on June 1 physical distancing measures will be lifted.

Phase three begins on the first day of June and a color-coded mapping system will be used as a guide to show which restrictions will be lifted. Mining, construction, and automotive industries in red states will be allowed to operate. Non-essential activities will be allowed in orange colored states and elderly people will be allowed to return to work. Churches, theatres, museums, and restaurants will be allowed to open partially in all yellow colored states. And for green colored states, all restrictions will be lifted as long as civilians will follow sanitary measures.