Mexico Overtakes Italy In COVID-19 Death Toll, Numbers Surging Beyond 35,000

Mexico's fate on Sunday appears to have worsened as it topped more than 35,000 coronavirus deaths, thereby surpassing Italy as the country with the fourth-highest pandemic deaths in the world.

According to a report, the Latin American country recorded Sunday 276 additional deaths and 4,482 new confirmed infections. This brings the total death toll of Mexico to an alarming 35,006 -- breaching the total number of coronavirus deaths in hard-hit Italy.

The said report has confirmed that Mexico now trails behind the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom in COVID-19 deaths and has a total of 299,750 new confirmed infections. The said data is evidenced by a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University.

Though the country has been seeing record-breaking COVID-19 numbers in the past week, leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador remained optimistic and said that the pandemic is "losing intensity" and that Mexico's "conservative media" has only been causing unnecessary alarm.

As a point of comparison, Italy has lost 34,954 lives from the pandemic and currently has 243,061 confirmed infections. This is lower than the current numbers in Mexico and is believed to be a result of a national effort to stop the spread of the contagion.

In contrast, Mexico is not showing the same trend as Italy and critics have been citing the Mexican government's decision on reopening their economy and easing lockdowns prematurely.

Lopez Obrador also defended the country's deputy health minister, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who is currently being questioned for his futile handling of the pandemic and his wayward projections of Mexico's total fatalities.

He had previously estimated in early May that the pandemic will only take about 6,000 Mexican lives.

Data gathered by German research firm Statista found that the country's death toll by the million is the 16th highest in the world.

However, this figure is said to double if the country's limited testing capability were to be accounted for. This conclusion is supported by some of Mexico's current and former officials who have expressed their disapproval of Lopez Obrador's response and management of the crisis.

Salomon Chertorivski who was the country's Health Minister from 2011 to 2012 said that Mexico did not meet globally established parameters before easing its lockdowns, to wit: a reduction in the numbers of contagions, deaths and hospitalized people within the last 14 days.