MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday said he would next week resume tours of the country, which he had suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, even though fatalities and new infections have just hit record levels.
“I’ve taken the decision to go because we need to restart our public life and move toward the new normality, with all the precautions,” Lopez Obrador told a regular government news briefing.
With the jury still out over whether the government has the virus under control, the decision carries risks for Lopez Obrador. His initially carefree attitude toward the pandemic sat uneasily with voters, until he began supporting quarantining.
On Wednesday evening, Mexico reported a record number of new daily infections, 3,463. On Tuesday the country registered 501 deaths from the novel coronavirus, Mexico’s highest in one day so far.
Under pressure from the United States, Mexico has begun opening up the country from a lockdown – even though opinion polls show most Mexicans still favor prioritizing safety over the economy.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes and Dave Graham; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
