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Mexico Moves to Prepare Hospitals for Coronavirus Patients


A worker wearing personal protective equipment disinfects the Merced Market in Mexico City on April 2, 2020.
A worker wearing personal protective equipment disinfects the Merced Market in Mexico City on April 2, 2020.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is scheduled to begin two days of hospital visits Friday as the government scrambles to make ready dozens of facilities with the capability of treating coronavirus patients.

The move comes as crews begin sanitizing a public hospital in the northern town of Monclova, in Coahuila state, where at least 26 medical workers tested positive for the virus and a doctor died.

Authorities say the hospital staff is being retrained on how to handle coronavirus cases following the doctor's death.

Prior to the doctor's death, medical workers at the hospital and several other medical facilities across Mexico staged protests over training and equipment needed to safely treat coronavirus patients.

The latest outbreak has raised public concern over the strength of the government’s plan to fight the virus, which has infected more than 1,300 people in Mexico and claimed the lives of 37 people.

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