MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's top coronavirus official says definitive data on the death toll from COVID-19 won't be available for "a couple of years."
The statement Sunday by Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell is likely to revive debate about Mexico's death toll, currently at 76,430, the fourth-highest in the world.
Officials acknowledge the figure is an undercount, because Mexico does very little testing. But the federal government has avoided adjusting its death toll upward to account for people who died at home or weren't tested.
Some parts of the country like Mexico City have found "excess deaths" likely caused by coronavirus were at least double official figures.
