On 1st anniversary of pandemic, Mexico has lost over 185,000

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the year since the first coronavirus case was identified in Mexico, the disease has killed at least 185,257 people and sickened almost 2.1 million.

Mexico registered its first case on Feb. 26, 2020, in a man who had travelled to Italy.

The Health Department reported just over 8,000 more confirmed infections and 783 more confirmed deaths Saturday, but because Mexico does so little testing the real number is certainly much higher.

Excess death statistics, which have not been updated since the end of 2020, suggest the real death toll is probably well over 220,000 even before the surge of cases in January.

Mexico has administered a total of almost 2.4 million doses of various vaccines, but still has not received enough shots to vaccinate even 1 percent of the country's 126 million people because most require two shots.