Mexico's COVID-19 death toll could be 60% higher than official count

FILE PJHOTO: Paramedics arrive at a hospital with a patient suspected of suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease continues, in Mexico City, Mexico January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

COVID-19-related deaths in Mexico likely exceed the confirmed toll by about 60%, Health Ministry data released on Wednesday showed.

Authorities have said previously that fatalities likely far exceed the official count, and the latest figure is in line with data published in March.

Mexico registered 351,376 excess deaths associated with COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic through the 20th week of this year, which would be May 23, latest data shows.

The country had recorded 221,647 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 by that date, meaning the additional deaths recorded by the Health Ministry based on a search of death certificates represented a 58.5% increase.

Mexico's official number of COVID-19 infections stands at 2,519,269 and its death toll at 233,047, after the Health Ministry on Wednesday reported 6,105 new infections and 244 more deaths.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez Additional reporting by Stefanie EschenbacherEditing by Leslie AdlerWriting by Daina Beth SolomonEditing by Frank Jack Daniel and Richard Chang)