The Ministry of Health reported 615 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 55,908. A further 5,618 infections since yesterday were confirmed increasing the national total to 511,369 positive cases of which 44,938 are estimated active, or with symptoms of the virus in the last 14 days.
During today’s briefing, Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said 345,653 patients have recovered from the virus.
The new risk traffic light was released with major changes. Campeche became the first state to reach yellow, while six states are in red and the remaining 25 in orange. This traffic light will be effective from August 17 to 23.
As of Friday, August 14
5,618 new cases (from yesterday)
511,369 confirmed cases nationwide
85,509 under investigation
55,908 deaths
Impact on markets (19.30 hrs)
US Dollar MX$22.02 (-0.91%)
BMV IPC 38,949.88 (0.87%)
Dow Jones 27,931.02 (0.12%)
Good week for the peso
The Mexican peso made a weekly advance against the dollar after ending today at MX$22.02 per dollar, compared with MX$22.39 last Friday, according to Banxico data. The movement in price meant an accumulated gain of 37 cents for the Mexican currency, which is equivalent to a variation of 1.65 percent. This recovery made the peso the Latin American currency that has appreciated the most during the period.
Mexico City enters eighth week on orange light
Mexico City head of government Claudia Sheinbaum said the city will continue on the orange risk traffic light for next week. In a remote briefing she explained that the city is unchanged for the eighth consecutive week, and called on everyone to strengthen sanitary measures. No additional activities will be allowed since the impact of the museums and cinemas reopening is ongoing and cannot be assessed yet.
US confirms border closure extension
The US confirmed the extension of their border closure for all non-essential travel for another month. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said the same agreement was reached with both Mexico and Canada. “We agreed to extend the limitation of non-essential travel at our shared land ports of entry until September 21,» Wolf said in a tweet after yesterday Minister of Foreign Affairs (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard announced the imminent decision.
Márquez invites equity funds
Minister of Economy Graciela Márquez invited private equity funds to invest in Mexico in order to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery effort. During an AMEXCAP summit, the official stated that Mexico “is open to inclusive and competitive investment,” so the government works together with the private sector to recover the MX$32 billion FDI reported in 2019.
WHO makes warning on growing nationalism
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned about the emergence nationalism in the race of the COVID-19 vaccine. “Excess demand is already creating a nationalism of vaccines and there is a risk that prices will rise,” said WHO head Tedros Ghebreyesus according to the Deutsche Welle.
“U” shape recovery
The recovery of the Mexican economy will have a «U» shape, and not the “V” shape previously predicted to imply a rebound as fast as the plunge, Banxico’s Deputy Governor Javier Guzmán said. The official noted that a «W» shape could not be ruled out as further COVID-19 outbreaks were possible. Yesterday, the central bank cut its interest rate for the tenth consecutive time, setting the benchmark at 4.5 percent.
