COVID-19 deaths at Mexico’s state-owned oil giant accelerated last month at the fastest pace since August amid a second wave of infections in the nation.
Fatalities at Petroleos Mexicanos, also known as Pemex, surged 17% in January compared with the previous month, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg. As many as 472 employees and 13 contract workers have died in total from the virus through 7 February.
As Mexico’s death toll from the virus has climbed to the third highest in the world, behind only the US and Brazil, Pemex has become a casualty of the government’s efforts to keep the economy running rather than adopt stricter measures to combat the outbreak.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who recently recovered from COVID-19, has resisted mandatory lockdowns as seen in other countries. Instead, he’s continued to press forward with plans to reverse long-term oil output declines at Pemex.