MEXICO CITY -- Mexico could reach "the absolute minimum point" of COVID-19 spread next week, following 11 weeks of a sustained decline in new cases, Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.
Statistics of the current third wave of infections show a weekly 24-percent drop in new cases, the official said, while hospitalization of severe cases is 81 percent lower compared to the peak of the pandemic at the beginning of the year.
"If this continues next week, we will certainly be at the absolute minimum point of the epidemic," Lopez-Gatell told journalists at the National Palace in Mexico City.
Some 69.3 million Mexicans have been vaccinated against COVID-19, out of a base of 89.4 million people over 18 years of age, he said.
The government aims to have the entire population over 18 years of age immunized with at least one dose by the end of October.
As of Monday, Mexico had logged 3,758,469 COVID-19 cases and 284,477 deaths.