COVID-19: Mexico City registered 30,462 ‘excess deaths' between January and August 

According to government official José Merino, Mexico City registered around 20,535 deaths associated with COVID-19 between April and August, almost double the number reported in the official death toll.

The head of the city's Digital Innovation Agency, José Merino , said there were 30,462 “ excess deaths " in the city between April 1 and the end of August, about two-thirds of which were determined to be due to coronavirus.

Excess deaths are computed by comparing the number of deaths in previous years and comparing them to 2020.

Merino wrote in his Twitter account that 92% of those deaths were in hospitals and 7% at private residences.

Merino explained 73% of patients were Mexico City residents, while 24% were State of Mexico residents. Only 3% came from other states.

However, José Merino said excess mortality in the capital decreased by 68% between May and August. Merino also said Mexico City didn’t reach the same excess mortality levels registered in other major cities such as New York, Madrid, Lima, Guayaquil, Santiago, or Manaus.

He added that this was an unprecedented transparency exercise.

Recommended: The Mexico City neighborhoods with the most COVID-19 cases

The city of almost nine million inhabitants, like the rest of Mexico, has had an extremely low testing rate and officials have acknowledged that the numbers of test-confirmed cases and deaths probably underestimate the real figures.

"These are figures that describe a tragedy," Merino wrote.

Merino did specify how the city had assigned that number of excess deaths to COVID-19, but city officials have been leading an effort to review death certificates to determine how many untested people had probably died of coronavirus.

It was also unclear whether test-confirmed cases were included in the excess-death figures.

Mexico City registers 20,535 coronavirus-related deaths

According to death certificates , since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Mexico, the capital has registered around 20,535 coronavirus-related deaths.

The report released by José Merino indicates authorities have registered 10,508 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. During the first half of 2020, the city registered 30.462 deaths; however, 20,535 are attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Recommended: Mexico City's new interactive map shows number of COVID-19 cases by neighborhood

The report provides even more detailed information. For example, it indicates 13 patients died from COVID-19 in March; 1,454 died in April; 5,631 died in May; 3,735 died in June; 2,347 died in July, and 1,926 died in August.

Mexico City started registering excess deaths associated with COVID-19 on April 19, and they started to decline in June.

gm