Cleaning workers collect contaminated clothing at the hospital of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), where COVID-19 patients are treated, in Mexico City on June 2, 2021. ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AE / AFP
About a quarter of Mexico's 126 million people are estimated to have been infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, far more than the country's confirmed infections.
The 2020 National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) showed that about 31.1 million people have had the virus, the ministry said in a statement, citing Tonatiuh Barrientos, an official at the National Institute of Public Health.
The estimate was given as the country recorded 3,282 new cases and 243 more fatalities, taking its total number of confirmed infections to 2,448,820 and the death toll to 229,823.
The government has said previously the real number of cases was likely to be significantly higher.
According to Barrientos, not all of the people in the survey's estimate necessarily showed symptoms. The survey was based on interviews with people at 13,910 households between Aug. 17 and Nov. 14 last year, and confirmed preliminary results released in December.
Separate data published in March suggested Mexico's actual death toll was at least 60% above the confirmed figure.
Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 307 of their service personnel on Saturday on the second day of a prisoner exchange that, when completed, is set to be the largest such swap in the three-year war between the two countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the prisoner swap - which should see 1,000 prisoners released on each side over three days - could herald a new phase in stop-start efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
Saturday's swap was announced by Russia's defence ministry, and separately by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a post on social
French police were investigating a possible arson attack as being the main cause for a power outage which hit the Alpes-Maritimes region in southern France on Saturday, including Cannes which is hosting its world-famous annual film festival.
Russia launched dozens of attack drones and ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight in one of the biggest combined aerial attacks on the Ukrainian capital of the three-year war, damaging several apartment buildings and injuring at least 15 people.
Rescuers on Friday pulled out all 260 mine workers who had been stuck for more than 24 hours in an underground shaft in South Africa, the mine's operator said.
Dubai Press Club has unveiled the full agenda for the Arab Media Summit 2025, which will bring together the region’s most influential voices in journalism, digital content, and communication to chart a new future for the region’s media.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's Crown Prince and the UAE's Deputy Prime Minster and Defence Minister, has emphasised that empowering young Emiratis with future-ready skills is key to building a sustainable, knowledge-driven economy.