A man wearing a mask to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and riding a wheelchair exercises with his dog in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Sunday...
A man wearing a mask to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and riding a wheelchair exercises with his dog in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. D(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A man rides his bicycle with his dog in tow amid the new coronavirus pandemic at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Mar...
A man rides his bicycle with his dog in tow amid the new coronavirus pandemic at Chapultepec park in Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City, ...
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City, Monday, July 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A homeless man sleeps on a sidewalk amid the new coronavirus pandemic on Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugart...
A homeless man sleeps on a sidewalk amid the new coronavirus pandemic on Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Riders wear masks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Riders wear masks to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Sunday, July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president promised Sunday to combat chronic health problems and improve health care, as the country’s cases of COVID-19 continued to mount.
The Health Department reported 5,311 more confirmed cases, for a total of 344,224, and 296 more COVID-19 deaths, for a total of 39,184.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Sunday in a message to the families of coronavirus victims that he would fight chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension that make people more likely to suffer severe cases of COVID-19.
He pledged to do so by promoting physical education, training more medical personnel, and fighting junk food.
López Obrador said the government would provide scholarships to train 30,000 more specialized doctors.
A trade group, the National Association of Softdrink Producers, issued a statement Sunday condemning what it called the “stigmatizing” of soft drinks, after Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell referred to them as “bottled poison.”
Mexicans have one of the world's highest per-capita consumption rates of soft drinks. Officials have said Mexico's high rates of obesity and diabetes have worsened the effects of the pandemic.
