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Mexico gets ready to reopen and resume activities in 16 states amid the COVID-19 pandemic 

Mexico City launched its re-opening plan, which will be implemented today

The states set to re-open are those that have falling rates of coronavirus hospitalizations - Photo: Alfredo Estrella/AFP
15/06/2020 |11:20Newsroom & Agencies |
Redacción El Universal
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The Mexican government began setting dates for reopening businesses in half the country next week, despite a surge in cases and deaths. 
 
The federal government announced that starting on June 15, half of Mexico’s 32 states can start limited reopenings of hotels and restaurants and broader reopenings of markets. For example, factories and hotels could resume operations if they implement safety measures.
 
The plan is based on a four-color scheme in which states with the worst conditions are colored red and those making progress are orange. States would eventually change to yellow and then green as conditions improved.
 
The states set to re-open are those that have falling rates of coronavirus hospitalizations, lower infection rates, and acceptable ratios of available hospital beds.



On June 12, President López Obrador announced he would resume his trips. He will visit five states this week but will not host massive events or rallies.

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Mexico City

Mexico City is the hardest-hit state and was not included on the federal list of reopening states. On June 12, the city government announced its reopening plan that begins today. It involves dropping driving restrictions and allowing manufacturing and neighborhood businesses to resume if they meet health standards.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that street markets, malls, restaurants, and churches could reopen a week later, but at reduced capacity. Businesses in downtown Mexico City are expected to reopen on June 23.

The plan follows Sheinbaum’s previous announcement of greatly expanded COVID-19 testing in the capital. The city plans to make a stronger effort to identify infections and trace contacts as Sheinbaum, in collaboration with the surrounding State of Mexico, tries to safely reactivate a metropolitan area of some 20 million people.

Mexico City hopes to process 100,000 tests daily by July, which would be a dramatic increase over current testing levels but still far short of some of the largest cities in the world.

The capital was never under a mandatory lockdown, but people were urged to stay at home. In recent weeks, street traffic has increased steadily as the federal government began pushing a return to a “new normal.”

Sheinbaum also announced that public transport will also gradually return to its normal operations and many stations will reopen.

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Moreover, Mexico City published 10 basic rules for businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic: 
 
1. People must wear PPE to entender any building or business.
 
2. Clean and disinfect all surfaces.
 
3. Enforce physical distancing measures, handwashing, and the use of hand sanitizer.
 
4. Natural ventilation.
 
5. Clear signs in doors, exits, and waiting lines.
 
6. Tiered working hours and says.
 
7. Allow vulnerable groups to stay at home, work from home, and respect their labor rights.
 
8. Install sanitary filters to identify COVID-19 symptoms; if a person has two or more symptoms, they cannot enter the building.
 
9. Companies with over 30 workers must test 5% of their employees every week.

10. If a person contracts the novel coronavirus, they must isolate themselves for two weeks, as well as their colleagues.

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