Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refused to get tested for COVID-19 despite coming into close contact with an aide who was infected with the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Zoe Robledo, the head of Mexico's Social Security Institute and a close aide to the president, announced he tested positive for the virus. Being one of the most prominent public figures of Lopez Obrador's administration, his announcement created concerns that the president may have been exposed to the respiratory illness.

Two days before the announcement, the aide accompanied the Mexican leader at an event at Villahermosa, Tabasco. The president's security cabinet had also attended the event. 

On Sunday, the president went to the country's southeast to launch the construction of a tourist train and to display the government's efforts to reopen the economy. Many have criticized the trip as risky due to the still-growing number of infections in the country. 

Lopez Obrador claimed no one on the trip had been infected with the virus. However, the social security agency announced that three other top officials tested positive for the virus but remained asymptomatic. 

Virus Peak

The four officials have become part of the total COVID-19 tally in Mexico-which sits at 120,301 confirmed cases and 14,649 fatalities after the health ministry reported 4,199 new cases and 596 additional deaths on Tuesday. 

According to Mexican health officials, the country could still be "several" weeks away from seeing the peak of coronavirus cases. Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell claimed Mexico has yet to "reach the maximum point" as the number of cases rises daily.

Lopez-Gatell's announcement was echoed by officials from international health agencies, including the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization. The health experts recommended boosting tests before a wide-scale reopening as well as observing safety measures. 

Mexican officials have raised the projections of total fatalities up to 35,000 deaths through October. A study conducted by a team at the University of Washington forecasted over 75,516 deaths by August. 

The country's hospitals have also been overwhelmed by the surge in coronavirus cases, with some suffering from years of neglect. The pandemic has also infected over 11,000 Mexican health workers, depleting the ranks in hospitals. Many have also suffered shortages in protective gear and medical equipment. 

The shortages have been devastating to patients-with some dying due to neglect or mistakes. Some died after receiving the wrong medications or doses. In some cases, patients who were given sedatives wake up abruptly then yank out their breathing tubes. 

According to the World Bank, the Mexican government spends less on its health care system compared to most countries in the Western Hemisphere. President Lopez Obrador has also decided to cut spending despite acknowledging the nation had 200,000 fewer medical professionals than it needed. 

As the population grew, the government allocated less than three percent of its national budget to health care. Data from the World Bank showed only two countries in Latin America spent less on health than Mexico: Guatemala and Venezuela.

"Administration after administration gave lip service to the issue of health, but it never showed up as a priority in the budget," Judith Méndez, an analyst at the Economic and Budgetary Research Center, told The New York Times.

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