Mexican official says no plans for border closures, as death toll rises

Mexico's deputy health minister said on Thursday there are no plans for border closures even as the country's death toll from the coronavirus jumped to 50 from 37 a day earlier.

"There's no plan, because there's no intention to use the border closure mechanism as if it were a useful mechanism for controlling the epidemic," the deputy minister, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, said during his regular evening news conference. "Although there's an expectation in the general public's view that a physical barrier can be put to epidemics, there's no scientific, historical demonstration that these types of measures are of any use."

However, Lopez-Gatell reiterated earlier calls on Mexicans resident in the United States to not make non-essential visits to Mexico to help avoid spread of the coronavirus. So far, the Health Ministry has reported 1,510 cases, up by 132 a day earlier.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)