Despite the Mexican government’s claims about the improving Coronavirus situation, the nation nears 22,000 deaths and surpassed 180,000 confirmed cases. The figures place Mexico as one of the hardest hit with substantially fewer tests.

Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell released the most recent figures which show 180,545 confirmed cases and 21,825 fatalities. Despite the high number of cases, Mexico has only carried out 479,528 tests.

The figures rank Mexico seventh in fatalities, just behind Spain. Despite the rising cases and fatalities, Mexico appears to be decreasing testing.

The most recent figures from Mexico drew criticism from Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, a Harvard epidemiologist who took to social media to share his concerns about how Mexico’s Coronavirus experience was “unprecedented.” According to Dr. Feigl-Ding, the statistics show a 50 percent positivity rate.

Dr. Feigl-Ding’s comments clash with the model implemented by Lopez Gatell, which relied heavily on statistical extrapolation over broad, concrete testing. Weeks after implementing the plan, Lopez Gatell stopped releasing the estimates and focused solely on confirmed cases.

Lopez Gatell and his staff have been harshly criticized for their original model, which created the opportunity to artificially deflate the number of cases in relation to nearby nations.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.