An agreement of the Ministry of Health was published today in the Official Gazette of the Federation, adopting additional extraordinary measures to mitigate and control the COVID-19 disease, including the immediate suspension, until April 30, 2020, of all non-essential activities in the public, private and social sectors.
However, several categories of “essential” activities not subject to suspension are created, most notably: a) Those directly necessary to address the health contingency, including the medical, paramedical, administrative and support branches throughout the health sector, both public and private, as well as supply and service activities in the pharmaceutical sector (production and distribution), the manufacture of supplies, medical equipment, healthcare technology, hazardous waste disposal, and the cleaning and sanitization of medical units. b) Those of the fundamental sectors of the economy: financial services, telecommunications, news media, distribution and sale of energy products, gas stations and gas, the food and non-alcoholic beverage industry, food markets, supermarkets and self-service stores, grocery stores and the sale of prepared food, transportation and freight services, agricultural, fishing and livestock production, agro-industry, the chemical industry, cleaning products, hardware stores, courier services, private security guards, daycare centers and children’s facilities, nursing homes and facilities for older adults, funeral and burial services, storage and cold-chain services for essential supplies, logistics, and activities whose suspension could have irreversible effects on their continuation. c) The preservation and maintenance of critical infrastructure that ensures the production and distribution of indispensable services such as: potable water, electricity, gas, oil, gasoline, jet fuel, basic sanitation, public transportation, hospital and first-level medical infrastructure, among others that may be defined under this category. In all essential activities and sectors, it is mandatory to comply with the social distancing measures previously issued by the Ministry of Health, including the prohibition on holding meetings or gatherings of more than 50 people. Once the suspension of non-essential activities has ended, the Ministry of Health, jointly with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economy, will issue the guidelines for an orderly, staggered and regionalized return. This is undoubtedly an extreme measure that will clearly affect the operation of numerous companies, except for those whose activities are “essential” in nature, a situation that will have to be determined on a case-by-case basis. For additional information, please contact our experts: Luis Burgueño, Partner: +52 (55) 5258 1003 | lburgueno@vwys.com.mx Rupert Hüttler, Partner: +52 (55) 5258 1038 | rhuettler@vwys.com.mx Rodolfo Trampe, Partner: +52 (55) 5258 1054 | rtrampe@vwys.com.mx Luis Miguel Jiménez, Partner: +52 (55) 5258 1058 | lmjimenez@vwys.com.mx
