Mexico City increases number of virus tests available

Authorities in Mexico City have set up areas throughout the city to significantly increase the number of tests for COVID-19 tests performed daily to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.This action was deemed necessary given the recent rise in the number of reported COVID cases and as the country surpassed one million infections and 100,000 deaths.

Macro kiosks were installed in priority attention areas, because of the higher number of cases that have been registered there. Until now the city government has only tested people with severe symptoms.  The increase in testing capacity allows for everyone, including those who may be asymptomatic to be tested.

Benito Juárez is one of the priority attention neighborhoods. There, Dr. Jorge Alfredo Ochoa Moreno said they expect to test 10,000 people daily."This strategy of active identification of cases will bring us closer to reality in terms of the number of active cases that we have", said  Ochoa Moreno, Director General of the Health Services of Mexico City.

On Thursday, Mexico surpassed having 100,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, becoming only the fourth country in the world to do so.The milestone came less than a week after Mexico topped one million registered coronavirus infections, though officials agree that number is also probably much higher given the low level of testing until now.

(Image Credit: AP) 

This story has not been edited by www.republicworld.com and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.