USA / Mexico's COVID-19 deaths rise to 4th-highest globally at 35,006

MEXICO CITY: Mexican officials say the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths has passed 35,000, making it the country with the fourth highest total. A count by Johns Hopkins University has only the United States, Brazil and Britain with more confirmed deaths from the new coronavirus.

Sunday's rise to 35,006 confirmed deaths moved Mexico, a country with 130 million inhabitants, past Italy. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador insisted the development of the pandemic in Mexico "is positive, it is good" because of the country's 32 states only nine had increases in infections.

"The bottom line is that the pandemic is on the downside, that it is losing intensity," Mexico's president said. Nevertheless, some days this past week have seen record daily numbers of new infections. Deputy Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus rose to 299,750 on Sunday.