A municipal employee, wearing protective gear, disinfect an area of a Coyoacan public park as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus, in Mexico City, Saturday, April 4, 2020. Mexico has started taking tougher measures against the new coronavirus, but some experts warn the country is acting too late and testing too little to prevent the type of crisis unfolding across the border in the United States. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
April 04, 2020 - 6:54 PM
Mexico’s president said Saturday that his government hopes to build ventilators domestically, as coronavirus cases rose to 1,890 and officials reported 79 deaths so far in the pandemic.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Mexico also is seeking to buy up to 5,000 ventilators abroad. But, he added, “we are testing prototypes to manufacture ventilators in our country, and do it soon.”
Mexico also faces a shortage of specialized doctors, and has gone on a recruitment campaign to train and get more qualified people working.
But López Obrador said he would try to avoid government budget deficits in coping with the spread of the coronavirus and in dealing with the economic damage from the pandemic.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020