COVID -19 will move from a pandemic to an endemic stage in Mexico, the government said Tuesday.
This means authorities will treat the infection as a regular seasonally recurring disease.
“It is now almost completely in retreat,” said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who never paid much attention to the pandemic.
Authorities have also decided to officially discontinue their epidemiological traffic light system, which helped communities understand what protective measures to enforce when cases raised.
Previously, Mexico used four colors to categorize the epidemiological risk of each of its states and determine which activities were allowed or banned.
If a state was green, all venues were open and there were no Covid 19-related restrictions.
If a state was yellow, nonessential activities were allowed and public venues were open.
In orange, hotels, bars, restaurants, gyms, and similar facilities could (in theory) operate at 50% capacity.
In red, the state was in complete lockdown. From May 1, all states will be “in green”.
Mexico has nearly 325,000 test-confirmed deaths, but a government review of death certificates suggests the real toll is almost 490,000.
The country has not even completed its first round of vaccinations. About 90% of the adult population has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Mexican children 12 years and older will soon have access to the coronavirus vaccine.
Starting April 28, these children can register to receive their doses, said Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who has been overseeing the Mexican response to the pandemic.
Speaking about the new “endemic state,” he pointed to the continued low number of daily confirmed deaths and high vaccination rates as evidence to support the decision.
Regarding the mask requirement, the government announced on April 2 that the use of face masks in public places is no longer mandatory.
Oliva López Arellano explained that the face mask can be removed as long as one is in open areas without crowds. “The voluntary use of face masks in open areas will be considered, without crowds and with a healthy distance,” she said at a press conference