in turn, the mexican government helped 86 people return to ecuador, 99 to peru, and 49 to cuba. on march 30, the total number of cases of covid-19 surpassed one thousand with 1,094 confirmed cases and 28 reported deaths in the country. in the evening, a national health emergency was declared by secretary marcelo ebrard; all sectors in the country are urged to stop most of their activities. in the early morning of march 31, 50,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and five ventilators (donated by jack ma and the alibaba foundation of china) arrived at the mexico city international airport. nurses in jalisco have been forced to get off public transportation and physically attacked by people fearful of covid-19. medical workers there and elsewhere have been advised not to wear their uniforms outside the hospital. the same day the total confirmed cases of covid-19 reached 1215 and one more death was reported. the government of mexico city announced that 90% of the businesses in mexico city would have to close because of the national health emergency declaration of the day before. in austin, texas, public health officials started investigating an apparent cluster of covid-19 after 28 of 70 "spring breakers" (students at the university of texas at austin) tested positive following their trip to cabo san lucas, baja california sur, in early march. the mexican social security institute (imss) in monclova, coahuila, reported that 29 medical and nursing staff tested positive for covid-19. no patients have been infected. april 2020 april 1 to 15 people wearing face masks at the monterrey international airport due to the covid-19 pandemic it was reported on april 1 that seven migrants from puebla residing in new york have died of covid-19. authorities reported 46% of cases as recoveries, which represents approximately 634 recoveries. in coahuila, 21 health workers contracted the virus and one doctor died from it, bringing the number of deaths among doctors employed by imss to four. nineteen of the 21 cases in coahuila are mild and the individuals are ambulatory. later the same day, 1,378 cases and 37 deaths of covid-19 were reported in mexico. on april 2, 1,510 cases of covid-19 and 13 more deaths related to the disease were confirmed by mexican authorities. in mexico city, as hotels are forced to close, hotel guests are evicted from their rooms. that same day president lópez obrador gave a press conference in which he downplayed the crisis and, after vaguely linking it with his reiterated promise to eradicate corruption, said the situation "vino como anillo al dedo" (literally, fit like a ring to the finger), which is equivalent to the idiom "fit like a glove to the hand" in that it expresses timeliness and adequateness. on april 3, 1,688 cases and 60 deaths were confirmed by the secretariat of health. the following day, 202 more cases and 19 more deaths were confirmed by mexican authorities. on april 5, president lópez obrador presented his plan to reactivate the economy. he said he did not want to increase fuel prices or taxes, and he was looking to hire more medical professionals for the armed forces. he said there was sufficient money to build the proposed thermoelectric plants that are needed in yucatán, baja california and elsewhere. he stated that he had support from the private sector and he expressed his confidence that mexico would soon overcome the current crisis. on the same day, the total number of cases surpassed two thousand with 2143 cases and 94 deaths. president lópez obrador and governor blanco of morelos dedicated the issste hospital "carlos calero" in cuernavaca that was going to be set aside to care for patients with covid-19. fifteen new deaths were registered on april 5, bringing the total to 94. the age range of the deceased was from 26 to 91 years old with a median age of 56.5. of the 94 dead, 79% were males and 21% were females. on april 6, 2,439 cases were confirmed and the total number of deaths surpassed one hundred with 125 deaths reported. the mexican consulate in shanghai, china, announced on april 7 that the aeroméxico misionero de paz, a boeing 787-8 filled with emergency medical supplies was en route to mexico. that same day, 2785 cases and 141 deaths related to covid-19 were confirmed. on april 8, twenty medical and nursing schools withdrew their students from social service in hospitals due to the lack of adequate protection. hugo lópez-gatell ramírez, head of the undersecretariat of prevention and health promotion at the mexican secretariat of health, estimated there were unconfirmed 26,519 cases of covid-19 in the country. in the evening it was announced that mexico surpassed the three thousand confirmed cases with 3,181 cases and 174 deaths. the following day, 260 more cases and 20 more deaths were reported by mexican authorities. josé ignacio precaido santos of the general health council announced that at least 146 private hospitals will make beds available to treat covid-19 patients on a non-profit basis. two pregnant women are among the 119 deaths reported as of april 9. these are the first two cases of pregnant women in mexico to die from covid-19; both had problems with obesity and diabetes. on april 10, the total confirmed deaths surpassed two hundred with 233 deaths and 3,844 cases confirmed by mexican authorities. the government of baja california closed a plant belonging to the multinational giant smiths group after the firm refused to sell ventilators to the mexican government. on the same day, mexican consulates in the united states announced the deaths of 181 mexican nationals due to the covid-19 pandemic. one hundred forty-nine of those cases were in new york. the national network of women shelters reports a 60% increase in calls for help since the coronavirus pandemic began. on april 11, 375 more cases and 40 more deaths were confirmed. nineteen mexican agricultural workers in kelowna, british columbia, canada, have contracted the disease but none are reported as serious. on april 12, the government established the "national contingency center" (cnc) to fight covid-19. it will be led by the military and will have scientists and health technicians advising about steps to combat the pandemic. on april 13, the number of covid-19 infections in the country passed 5,000; there were 332 deaths. the mexican navy announced it would open ten voluntary self-isolation units to shelter 4,000 covid-19 victims in mexico city, guerrero, jalisco, michoacan, sinaloa, tamaulipas and veracruz. sonora became the first state in the country to declare a curfew. on april 14, governor antonio echevarría garcía of nayarit said he wanted to close the state's borders to visitors from jalisco and sinaloa, noting that young, apparently healthy people from other areas have visited their elderly relatives in the state. "y son las personas que han fallecido y estas personas que vienen del otro lado traen el virus, no presentan ningún síntoma y hacen la contaminadera," ("and they are the people who have died and these people who come from the other side bring the virus, do not present any symptoms and cause the contamination,") said echevarría. oaxaca governor alejandro murat hinojosa reported the theft of more than 20 kits of medical supplies used for treatment of covid-19 were stolen from the aurelio valdivieso general hospital. a week earlier, seven ventilators had been stolen from the imss hospital. baja california governor jaime bonilla valdez said that doctors in tijuana are "falling like flies" as 21 medical workers at imss clinic #20 have been diagnosed with covid-19 and 15 others are suspected of having it; one doctor at the imss general hospital has been infected and six have suspected cases. an april 15 report by quinto elemento lab showed that 30% of mexicans cannot get local information about covid-19 infections. mexico city does not break down statistics for its 16 boroughs, and the state of mexico, querétaro, tlaxcala, and yucatán do not reveal information on the municipal level. governments said revealing the information would violate patients' privacy. the national guard began providing security support for hospitals run by the imss in nineteen states on april 15. april 16 to 30 a clothes store in plaza río tijuana, closed due to covid-19 the first death attributed to covid-19 of a minor under 25 is reported in tabasco on april 16, a two-year-old girl with down syndrome and congenital heart disease. the government announced on april 16 that it will restrict transportation between areas of the country that are infected with covid-19 (mostly large cities) and areas that are not infected, without specifying what areas are included or how it will be enforced. president lópez obrador also said that based upon current projections, the 979 municipalities that have not had reported cases of coronavirus will be able to reopen schools and workplaces on may 17; the date is june 1 for the 463 municipalities that have. the elderly and other vulnerable groups will still be requested to stay home, and physical distancing should remain in place until may 30. it is expected that the pandemic will end in the metropolitan area on june 25. tv azteca called for the public to ignore information and warnings from hugo lópez-gatell ramírez on april 17: "like every night, the undersecretary of health, hugo lópez-gatell led the conference on covid-19 in mexico. but his numbers and conferences have already become irrelevant. moreover, we tell him with all his words, no longer pay attention to hugo lópez-gatell." president lópez obrador's proposal for a united nations general assembly resolution to prevent price gouging or hoarding of medical supplies by wealthy countries has 161 co-sponsors. the proposal was first made during a video conference of the g20. pemex reports 10 deaths, 92 cases, and 1,052 suspected cases of covid-19. 17 have recovered. on april 18, alonso pérez rico, health secretary for baja california, reported that at least 30 doctors in the state, principally in mexicali, have tested positive for covid-19. none is critical. on april 20 the secretariat of national defense (sedena) announced that it had hired 3,158 of the 4,572 health professionals it needs. a venezuelan youtuber residing in mexico city broke quarantine after being diagnosed with covid-19 on april 20. authorities had to sanitize the grocery store he contaminated and his immigration status was being investigated. his girlfriend similarly broke quarantine a few days earlier. mexico entered phase 3 of its contingency plan on april 21. 712 deaths and 8,772 confirmed cases were reported. the mexico city general hospital delivered the wrong body to the widow of ángel dorado salinas, 52. she discovered the mistake when she saw a photograph of the corpse. in mid-april, it came to media attention that mexican drug cartels, in an effort to boost their own popularity and in response to poor efforts by the mexican presidency, began distributing supplies to impoverished citizens in the streets. the president of mexico has since called on the cartels to stop distributing supplies and "end violence" instead. the number of coronavirus cases surges past 10,000 to 10,544 with 970 deaths on april 21. six people were arrested in san pedro tlaquepaque and tlajomulco de zúñiga, jalisco, for violating the state's quarantine orders on april 22. another six people were denied permission to enter the state. two women were arrested in querétaro for attacking a health worker. they face up to three years in prison and a fine of 24,644 pesos (us$977). a field hospital with 854 beds is inaugurated in mexico city; it should be fully operational on june 1. on april 26, the mexican council of businessmen (cmn) and idb invest announce a us$12 billion plan to provide credit to 30,000 micro-, small-, and medium-sized industries. amlo opposes the plan, likening it to fobaproa, the 1995 bank-rescue plan that cost taxpayers billions. pan supports the plan. the death toll surpassed the 1,000 figure on april 23. tijuana expects its hospitals to run out of space over the weekend. on april 29, eight public and three private hospitals in mexico city stopped accepting covid-19 patients due to a lack of space and ventilators. mexico city head of government claudia scheinbaum said there were 54 hospitals with 1,500 beds available. on the same day, iñaki landáburu, president of the national association of wholesale grocers (anam), threatened to stop the