MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico racked up a record number of new confirmed coronavirus infections on Saturday, registering more than 9,000 daily cases for the first time and passing the previous peak for the second day running, official data showed.

Mexico’s health ministry reported 9,556 new cases of coronavirus, surging past the record of 8,458 set on Friday. The ministry also logged 784 additional fatalities, bringing the total tally in the country to 434,193 cases and 47,472 deaths.

The new record in cases came a day after Mexico overtook Britain as the country with the third-highest number of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico has struggled to contain the virus, and has since late May been trying to restart the economy, which in the April-June period contracted by more than 17% quarter-on-quarter.

The government says the real number of infected people is likely considerably higher than the confirmed cases.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis)

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