MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico reported 226 more deaths from coronavirus on Sunday, finishing the week with 3,723 fatalities, the lowest total in over two months and lending weight to government assertions it is beating back the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the government’s coronavirus czar, Deputy Health Minster Hugo Lopez-Gatell, declared the novel coronavirus was in “sustained decline” in Mexico, barely two weeks after the country posted its highest daily new infections.

Low testing rates have fed concerns that the published data may understate the true extent of the pandemic, and ministry officials also caution that cases could surge again.

According to the latest figures from the health ministry, Mexico’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 60,480.

Nevertheless, the week’s cumulative toll was the lowest since the second week of June, according to Reuters calculations based on health ministry data.

Mexico has the third highest death toll globally from the coronavirus after the United States and Brazil. The tally in India is catching up with Mexico.

The health ministry also reported 3,948 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 560,164.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Copyright 2020 Thomson Reuters.