Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Mexico: From the 27th of February to the 30th of April 2020()

BACKGROUND: The first case of COVID-19 detected in Mexico was on the 27th of February 2020. On the 30th of April, 64 days after this first diagnosis, the number of patients had increased exponentially, reaching 19,224 confirmed cases and 1859 (9.67%) deaths. In response to this global outbreak, we summarize the current state of our understanding regarding COVID-19 in Mexico. METHODS: We obtained the data from the official website of the Ministry of Health in Mexico. The study period covered the 27th of February to the 30th of April 2020. The cases were confirmed using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays, and we analyzed the epidemiological, demographic and clinical data. RESULTS: In Mexico, most cases of COVID-19 were located in Mexico City. The mean age of the patients was 46 years. Of the 12,656 confirmed cases, most infected individuals were between the ages of 30 and 59 years (65.85%), and there was a higher incidence rate for men (58.18%) than for women (41.82%). The patients who died had one or more comorbidities, mainly hypertension (45.53%), diabetes (39.39%) and obesity (30.4%). In the first 64 days of the epidemic, China had reported 80,304 cases, with a mortality rate of 3.66%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate the early transmission of COVID-19 in Mexico. The descriptive epidemiology shows similarities between the cases of COVID-19 in Mexico and those in China. In the same period of the epidemic curve, we observed a reduction in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mexico and a higher mortality rate compared with that of China.