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| - Authorities in Mexico City announced Friday they are delaying a planned reopening of the economy by a week to give more time for the number of coronavirus infections to drop. Mexico has employed a "traffic light" system to gradually reopen its economy, depending on the virus's spread. "The city will remain in the red light next week, in transition to orange. The activities we announced ... cannot open, we're going to wait for the infections to reduce," Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said. Markets, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels and places of worship will remain closed for the week. However, the automobile, mining and construction industries, as well as beer production, can continue operating. Mexico City, home to nine million people, is using hospital occupancy to determine the level of alert. As of Friday they were just over 4,200 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the mayor said, putting occupancy at 65 percent. "While the number of people admitted to hospitals has declined, (the (hospitalization rate) has not reduced" as quickly as hoped, said Sheinbaum. By Thursday, Mexico had recorded 19,700 COVID-19 deaths and 165,000 cases among a population of 127 million. The country registered its largest jump in new cases on Thursday with more than 5,600 over the previous 24 hours. Mexico City, the worst-affected area, has reported more than 5,000 deaths and 40,000 cases. The pandemic-enforced lockdown provoked a historic fall in industrial activity of almost 30 percent in April, compared to the same month in 2019. Mexico's Central Bank also predicts the economy will shrink by 8.8 percent in 2020. nc/axm/gma/bc/acb
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