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.

The first case of COVID-19 in Mexico was detected on February 21, 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 126,000. On July 28, 2024, the number of cases recorded had reached 7.7 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.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in 2020, nearly all respondents (97.2 percent) claimed using face mask as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 infection. However, nearly three out of 10 Mexican surveyed continued going to school or work during the pandemic. As of March 2021, Mexico registered more than 2.5 million cases of COVID-19, placing it among the top 15 countries worldwide most affected by the virus.

Health security index At the beginning of 2019, almost a year before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mexico's overall health security index score equaled nearly 58, out of 100 points. This index assessed a country's capability to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats, such as pandemics. Among the categories analyzed, prevention was the one with the lowest score, with 45.5, meaning that the county's capacity to prevent biological threats was low. Althought Brazil received the highest score in this category, among Latin American countries, it is also the territory most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.

Influenza in Mexico Another infectious disease that is source of concern is the influenza, also known as the flu. Without treatment, it can also lead to severe respiratory problems and even to death. In Mexico, there were more than six thousand cases reported during the flu season of 2019-2020. Additionally, along with pneumonia, influenza is one of the leading causes of death in the country, accounting for almost 30 thousand occurrences in 2020.

According to a survey carried out in early-2021, close to eight out of ten respondents in Mexico considered that their family finances were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, nearly seven in every ten survey participants stated that the sanitary crisis had affected their work life. Other impacted areas mentioned by the Mexican interviewees were education, family life as well as mental and physical health.

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.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in early 2020, approximately 54 percent of the respondents believed that the coronavirus would eventually arrive to Mexico. Meanwhile. according to a different survey, more than a third of Mexicans thought that coronavirus could be transmitted by any product that came from China.

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

As of June 1, 2022, Mexico had a total of 204.83 million confirmed doses of COVID-19 vaccines. AstraZeneca's viral vector vaccine, which requires two doses per immunization, was the one with the most doses confirmed for the country, with a total of 79.43 million. According to demographic estimates, more than 250 million doses would be needed to immunize the entire Mexican population.

As of February 2025, a total of 138 clinical studies on COVID-19 had been completed in Mexico. Meanwhile, another 12 COVID-19 clinical trials were recruiting participants. As of June 3, 2022, there were over 1,500 drugs and vaccines in development targeting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in March 2020, approximately 30 percent of respondents believed that the number of doctors and specialists in the country was more than enough to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. In comparison, only 20 percent believed that there was enough medication for everyone. As of March 25, 2020, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the country amounted to 405.

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

According to a survey carried out in early-2021, around 30 percent of respondents in Mexico stated that at least one household member suffered from COVID-19. Additionally, another three out of ten Mexican survey participants declared that the salary of at least one household member had decreased. Other consequences perceived in households in the North American country were job losses, death of family members, and an increase on physical violence.

According to a survey carried out in July 2020, 54 percent of respondents in Mexico none of their family members, friends, neighbors or co-workers had died from COVID-19, while 30 percent stated knowing one or two people who had died as a result of complications from this coronavirus.

Following the Mexican government's call on March 30, 2020 for the suspension of all non-essential activities, Mexicans were forced to spend more time in their homes. In this way, the use of apps and social networks became even more recurrent. Based on a total of 144,134 social media mentions regarding food-delivery apps analized from May 19 to June 17, 2020, it was found that most Mexicans (over 64 percent) expressed neutral ideas about these services, while close to 20 percent included positive mentions about these apps in their posts.

Visits to Mexico's parks, beaches, public gardens and similar places went down by 46 percent between December 2020 and January 2021, when compared to the weeks prior to the COVID-19 breakout in 2020. Retail and recreation community areas in the North American country also registered visit drops of more than 40 percent. Residential places, on the other hand, saw increases in people traffic — the only growth recorded at the beginning of 2021 in Mexico. Community areas in Brazil saw a less severe drop in visits compared to Mexico.

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.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in January 2020, approximately 79 percent of respondents believed that coronavirus could lead to death. The majority of coronavirus infections have been registered in Mainland China.

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

According to a survey carried out in July 2020, 11 percent of men and 23 percent of women surveyed in Mexico stated they were working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, approximately four out of ten of respondents in the North American country had seen a decrease in their income. Less than eight percent of Mexican survey participants of both sexes received support from the government.

Approximately five to six of every ten Mexicans decreased their level of spending in the months after the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, in comparison to their average spending, according to a series of surveys carried out between May, 2020, and March, 2021. In contrast, approximately four out of every ten consumers reduced their spending by the beginning of 2021. On February 29, 2020 the first two cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Mexico were reported. As a result of the outbreak, the government installed a federal lockdown mandate known as 'Jornada de sana distancia', which was in place between March 23 and May 20, 2020.

According to a survey carried out in Mexico in August 2020, 45 percent of respondents stated to somewhat or highly approve the actions taken by Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to control the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Compared to the August edition of the survey, the overall approval rate on AMLO's response to the pandemic increased by seven percentage points in the month of October.

At the end of February 2020, Mexico detected the first cases of COVID-19 in its territory. Since the pandemic began, the installation of educational apps increased in the North American country. While non-organic installs of education apps reached a peak on the week of March 31 and April 6, most organic installs (7.54 percent) were made from April 21 to 27.

The COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a health shock, but the secondary economic shock is equally formidable. Access to timely, policy-relevant information on the awareness of, responses to and impacts of the health situation and related restrictions are critical to effectively design, target and evaluate programme and policy interventions. This research project investigates the main socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic on UNHCR people of concern (PoC) – and nationals where possible – in terms of access to information, services and livelihoods opportunities. Three geographic regions were taken into consideration: Southern Mexico, Mexico City and the Northern and Central Industrial Corridor. Two rounds of data collection took place for this survey, with the purpose of following up with the respondents.