The first case of COVID-19 in Mexico was detected on March 1, 2020. By the end of the year, the total number of confirmed infections had surpassed 1.4 million. Meanwhile, the number of deaths related to the disease was nearing 148,000. On May 11, 2025, the number of cases recorded had reached 7.6 million, while the number of deaths amounted to around 335,000. The relevance of the Omicron variant Omicron, a highly contagious COVID-19 variant, was declared of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the end of November 2021. As the pandemic unfolded, it became the variant with the highest share of COVID-19 cases in the world. In Latin America, countries such as Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico were strongly affected. In fact, by 2023 nearly all analyzed sequences within these countries corresponded to an Omicron subvariant. Beyond a health crisis As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed worldwide, the respiratory disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 virus first detected in Wuhan brought considerable economic consequences for countries and households. While Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices declined in 2020 compared to the previous year, a survey conducted among adults during the first months of 2021 showed COVID-19 impacted families mainly through finances and employment, with around one third of households in Mexico reporting an income reduction and the same proportion having at least one household member suffering from the disease.Find the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic in the world under Statista’s COVID-19 facts and figures site.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

Brazil is the Latin American country affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of July 2024, the country had reported around 38 million cases. It was followed by Argentina, with approximately ten million confirmed cases of COVID-19. In total, the region had registered more than 83 million diagnosed patients, as well as a growing number of fatal COVID-19 cases. The research marathon Normally, the development of vaccines takes years of research and testing until options are available to the general public. However, with an alarming and threatening situation as that of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists quickly got on board in a vaccine marathon to develop a safe and effective way to prevent and control the spread of the virus in record time. Over two years after the first cases were reported, the world had around 1,521 drugs and vaccines targeting the COVID-19 disease. As of June 2022, a total of 39 candidates were already launched and countries all over the world had started negotiations and acquisition of the vaccine, along with immunization campaigns. COVID vaccination rates in Latin America As immunization against the spread of the disease continues to progress, regional disparities in vaccination coverage persist. While Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico were among the Latin American nations with the most COVID-19 cases, those that administered the highest number of COVID-19 doses per 100 population are Cuba, Chile, and Peru. Leading the vaccination coverage in the region is the Caribbean nation, with more than 406 COVID-19 vaccines administered per every 100 inhabitants as of January 5, 2024.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of August 2, 2023, Mexico was the third Latin American country with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, reaching over 7.6 million patients. By federate entity, Mexico City ranked first in number of confirmed cases, with around 1.9 million infections recorded by September 21, 2023. The State of Mexico followed with 760,699 reported cases of the disease.

The leading cause of death in Mexico in 2020
In 2020, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in Mexico. The country reported its first fatal case due to the disease in March 2020. Since then, the number of COVID-19 deaths has increased steadily, reaching 334,336 deaths as of August 2, 2023. These figures place Mexico fifth in the total number of deaths related to COVID worldwide and second in Latin America, just after Brazil.

Mexico’s vaccination strategy Mexico began its vaccination campaign at the end of December 2020, an immunization strategy that prioritized healthcare workers and those most at risk of developing severe COVID-19, such as the older population. With more than 223 million vaccines administered as of August 14, 2023, Mexico ranked as the Latin American country with the second highest number of applied vaccines, while slightly over three quarters of its population received at least one vaccine dose against the disease by March 2023.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of July 28, 2024, nearly 1.8 million people have died due COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The country with the highest number was Brazil, reporting around 700,000 deaths. As a result of the pandemic, Brazil's GDP was forecast to decline by approximately six percent in 2020. Meanwhile, Mexico ranked second in number of deaths, with approximately 335 thousand occurrences. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In the last four years, May has been the most violent month in Mexico in three of them, exception for 2023, when June was the most violent month of the year. The peak of violence happened in May 2021, when an average of 150 people were murdered every day. On the other hand, October 2023 was the least violent month in this period of time, with an average of 125 people murdered daily.

According to recent estimates, the most affected sectors by the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America would be wholesale and retail trade as well as services in general, such as tourism, foodservice, transport, and communications. In 2020, this group of most affected sectors was forecasted to represent more than 16 percent of Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP). Among the countries shown in this graph, Brazil is the nation where sectors moderately affected by the pandemic could represent the highest contribution to GDP (75.8 percent).

Which Latin American economies were most vulnerable to the pandemic? In 2020, the economic sectors most affected by the coronavirus pandemic - wholesale and retail, hotels and restaurants, transport and services in general - were forecasted to account for 35.5 percent of Panama’s GDP. In addition, the moderately and most affected economic segments were estimated to contribute the most to Panama’s GDP (a combined 97.6 percent) than any other country in this region. A similar scenario was projected in Mexico, where the sectors that would least suffer the pandemic's negative effects would account for only 3.4 percent of GDP.

Did the pandemic put a stop to economic growth in Latin America? Economic growth changed dramatically after the COVID-19 outbreak. Most of the largest economies in Latin America fell under recession in 2020. Estimates predict a more optimistic scenario for 2021, with countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina growing their GDP at least five percent.

According to estimates of August 2020, the most optimistic development for Mexico’s COVID-19 situation in the remaining months of the year have the potential to see the country's accommodation industry generate 10.4 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue. In the best possible scenario, Mexico's hotel occupancy could reach 46.9 percent, with a total of 101 million overnight tourists by the end of year. On the other hand, in a scenario considering a high risk of COVID-19 infection, the number of travelers staying in hotels or similar establishments across the country would amount to 71.1 million. This would translate into a hotel occupancy of 32.9 percent and revenues amounting to 7.28 billion U.S. dollars for this industry.

Hotel occupancy in Mexico

Since 2016, Mexico passed the 60 percent mark in hotel occupancy, and it even rose above 61 percent in 2017. This represents an overall increase of around eleven percentage points, when compared to the rate recorded at the beginning of the decade. However, in Mexico’s key tourism markets, hotel occupancy exceeds these numbers. During the first half of 2019. For example, over 80 percent of hotel rooms in the areas of Nuevo Vallarta, Playacar, and the Riviera Maya were occupied. Nevertheless, these rates inevitably plunged during the first semester of 2020 due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Average daily rate of hotels in Mexico

The average daily rate (ADR) is a performance indicator used in the accommodation industry to calculate the average rental income per occupied room over a specific time period. In 2019, the ADR in Mexico amounted to 2,205 Mexican pesos, around 117 U.S. dollars at the time of the exchange rate in December 31, 2019.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in early-2021, 74 percent of respondents reported having spent more money on disinfectants and sanitizers in 2020, when compared to their usual consumption of these products prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, more than half of Mexican survey participants also said that they purchased more home cleaning products during the coronavirus outbreak that year.

In the beginning of March 2020, Chile reported its first cases of COVID-19. By the end of the month, online marketplace Mercado Libre had seen online orders grow by 125 percent, making it the Latin American country with the largest increase in online orders during this period. Meanwhile, Colombia ranked second, with online orders growing by 119 percent, followed by Mexico with a 112 percent growth rate.

The vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in Mexico began at the end of December 2020. Over two years later, around 76 percent of the country's population had been administered at least one dose of the vaccine. By that same date, more than 64 percent of Mexican inhabitants had received the recommended amount of doses for immunization. The country had announced it would start its booster shots campaign on January 2022. It was estimated that the Latin American country would need more than 250 million doses to immunize its entire population.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of July 2023, the Omicron variant was the most prevalent among selected countries in Latin America. The share of COVID-19 cases corresponding to the Omicron variant amounted to 100 percent of the analyzed sequences of SARS-CoV-2 in Colombia. The variant Omicron (XBB.1.5) accounted for nearly 81 percent of the sequenced cases in the country, while Omicron (XBB.1.9) added up to 14 percent. Similarly, Peru reported over 90 percent of its reviewed sequences corresponding to the variant Omicron (XBB.1.5), while Omicron (XBB) accounted for around 2.4 percent of cases studied.

A regional overview

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus causing COVID-19 - was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization in November 2021. Since then, it has been rapidly spreading, causing an unprecedented increase in the number of cases reported worldwide. In Latin America, Brazil had been the most affected country by the disease already before the emergence of the Omicron variant, with nearly 37.4 million cases and around 701,494 confirmed deaths as of May 2, 2023. However, it is Peru that has the largest mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants due to the SARS-Cov-2 in the region, with roughly 672 deaths per 100,000 people.

Vaccination campaigns in Latin America

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause social and economic harm worldwide, most Latin American and Caribbean countries advance their immunization programs. As of August 14, 2023, Brazil had administered the largest number of vaccines in the region, with over 486.4 million doses. Mexico and Argentina followed, with about 223.1 million and 116 million COVID-19 doses administered, respectively. However, Cuba had the highest vaccination rate not only in the region, but also the world, with around 391 vaccines given per 100 people.

Find the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic in the world under Statista’s COVID-19 facts and figures site.

As of March 2020, among the seven Latin American countries surveyed, Brazil alone concentrated 29 percent of all posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram containing the terms 'coronavirus' or 'COVID-19'. It was followed by Mexico and Argentina with 23 and 19 percent, respectively.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism revenue in Mexico had decreased by more than 50 percent as of September 2020, based on a year-over-year comparison. Meanwhile, the country’s international tourism volume plummeted by nearly 60 percent. Consequently, the tourism contribution to the Mexican GDP dropped by more than 45 percent in the second quarter of that year. In the 2010s, this sector accounted for over eight percent of the North American country's GDP .

Mexico’s tourism GDP

In the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector contributed more than 1.5 trillion Mexican pesos to Mexico’s GDP. Based on exchange rates of December 31, 2019, this amount equaled around 80 billion U.S. dollars. Out of the several economic activities related to this sector, accommodation and foodservice stand out as its most important segments, with both accounting for over 40 percent of the Mexican tourism GDP. In 2019, there were approximately 82 thousand foodservice establishments and 24 thousand hotels operating in the Latin American country.

International tourism in Mexico

Mexico is by far the leading tourism destination in Latin America. Its combination of beautiful beaches, authentic cuisine, and indigenous history attracts millions of tourists every year. In 2019, this country welcomed six times more international visitors than Argentina, which was the second most popular Latin American tourism destination among foreign travelers that year. Mexico is also the country with the highest international tourism receipts in the region.

As of April 2021, Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) was forecasted to increase by five percent during 2021. Mexico was one of the Latin American countries that faced the worst recession after the COVID-19 pandemic, as its GDP fell over eight percent in 2020. Among the biggest economies in the region, Brazil was expected to experience one of the lowest GDP growth in 2021, at around 3.7 percent.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of January 2022, the share of COVID-19 cases corresponding to the Omicron variant in Mexico amounted to over 90 percent of the country's analyzed sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A month earlier, this figure amounted to 60 percent of cases studied in the country. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus causing COVID-19 - was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization in November 2021 based on its trasmisibility level.

An increasing amount of cases

In Mexico, the spread of the Omicron variant led the Latin American country to reach over 5.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 by March 2022, with the surge of close to two million cases in a matter of four months. Never before since the start of the pandemic had there been so many cases recorded in such a short period of time in the country. During those months, approximately 30 thousand people died due to complications stemming from the disease, reaching 320 thousand deaths by March 2022.

A relatively low testing rate

Within the Latin American region, Mexico was the fourth country with the largest number of people infected, following Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. However, the country is considered to have had a relatively low testing rate. According to recent estimates, around 117 thousand tests per million people were reported in Mexico as of March 2022, one of the lowest COVID-19 testing rates among the countries most affected by the pandemic. In contrast, Peru reached over 836 million tests per million population.

Find the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic in the world under Statista’s COVID-19 facts and figures site.

In Mexico, daily time spent with TV increased by 21 percent when comparing calendar week 15 of 2020 (April 6 to 12, 2020) with calendar week 15 of 2019. Among the presented countries, the highest rise – 57 percent – was reported in Peru.

In 2020, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Central and South America had suffered a contraction of more than 110 billion U.S. dollars due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism. Meanwhile, the global travel restrictions imposed due to the health crisis caused a GDP decline of roughly 33 billion U.S. dollars in the Caribbean. In consequence, tourism employment was also severely affected in those regions that year.

Tourism contribution to GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean

The gross domestic product (GDP) measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country or a region within a certain period. Excluding Mexico, the total contribution of the tourism sector to Latin America and the Caribbean’s GDP saw a moderate but overall positive trend during the past decade, surpassing 350 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. In Mexico alone, nearly two trillion Mexican pesos (more than 100 billion U.S. dollars at exchange rates of December 31, 2019) were added that year to the country’s GDP by tourism-related activities.

COVID-19 impact on travel and tourism in Mexico

Mexico is not only the leading country for tourism in Latin America but also one of the key players in the travel sector worldwide. For most of 2020, the Mexican government opted out of travel restrictions and lockdowns. This measure, however, did not rescue the country's tourism sector from the harsh impact of COVID-19. As of October of that year, Mexico was among the travel destinations most affected by the pandemic, with tourism revenue losses amounting to nearly 14 billion U.S. dollars.

Between March and May 2020, the Peruvian government released a coronavirus (COVID-19) stimulus package that represented nearly nine percent of its GDP and was the largest in the region. By contrast, Mexico and Colombia only spent 0.5 and 0.4 of their GDPs on liquidity support to combat the consequences of the COVID-19, respectively.

Heart conditions were the most common causes of death in Mexico in 2023. During that period, more than 189,000 people died in the North American country as a result from said conditions. Diabetes mellitus ranked second, with over 110,000 deaths registered that year. Obesity in MexicoObesity and being overweight can worsen many risk factors for developing heart conditions, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes, which in the case of a COVID-19 infection can lead to a severe course of the disease. In 2020, Mexico was reported as having one of the largest overweight and/or obese population in Latin America, with 66 percent of people in the country having a body mass index higher than 25. In 2022, obesity was announced as being one of the most common illnesses experienced in Mexico, with over 821,000 cases estimated. In a decade from now, it is predicted that about 6.6 million children in Mexico will suffer from obesity. If estimations are correct, this North American country will belong to the world’s top 10 countries with the most obese children in 2030. Physical activity in MexicoIt is not only a matter of food intake. A 2023 survey found, for instance, that only 39.8 percent of Mexican population practiced sports and physical activities in their free time, a figure that has decreased in comparison to 2013. Less than 15 percent of the physically active Mexicans practice sports for fun. However, the vast majority were motivated by health reasons.