Weekly Report 78

GENERAL SITUATION IN MEXICO

Weekly Review # 78 I October 27, 2021

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY MEXICO TO USE A PANEL OF EXPERTS TO RESOLVE USMCA RULES OF ORIGIN DISPUTE

Mexico will resort to a panel of experts to settle its differences regarding the U.S. interpretation of the application of the rules of origin in the automotive sector in the North American trade agreement (USMCA), informed three sources with knowledge of the matter on Tuesday.

In August, Mexican authorities asked U.S. authorities to initiate formal consultations on what they consider a stricter application of these rules to vehicle producers and, therefore, incompatible with the agreement between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.

Canada later joined the Latin American country’s request, representing the first non-contentious stage of the StateState dispute settlement mechanism in Chapter 31 of the USMCA. Mexico’s Ministry of Economy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

If 75 days after the filing of the request the parties are unable to resolve the dispute, the panel remedy is the step provided for in the treaty to settle the dispute. The deadline is the first week of November.

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CLIENTS GOOD NEWS

MATTHEWS MEMORIALIZATION SPOTLIGHT Q4 -2021 We congratulate and recognize the outstanding work of TYG Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Matthews Memorialization in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon, for winning the Spotlight Quality Improvement Award for the 3rd consecutive time.

“We appreciate the efforts of not only the Quality Dept.

Quality Dept. but of all our staff. Committed to Quality!”

Hilda Garza, HR Manager, TYG Manufacturing

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KEY POINTS OF PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR’S Morning Press Conference October 20-26, 2021

VACCINATION PLAN This week is the deadline to vaccinate everyone over 18 years of age, and only those who do not want to be vaccinated will remain.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES President López Obrador commented on his call with his counterpart from the United States, Joe Biden, where he assured that Mexico is not seen as the backyard of the United States. On his next visit to the United States, he pointed out that he will only attend to preside over the UN Council Security Council meeting and meet with the General Secretary.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxEgOKuI-n-WOJaNcisHvSg

ELECTRIC REFORM Regarding the request of the Plural Parliamentary Group to include its proposals to approve the reform, the President pointed out that the electricity reform is convenient for the country and is the opportunity for the CFE to strengthen itself. If the leadership of the State in the management of the electricity industry is upheld, that the distribution of electricity is not for profit and the nation owns that lithium, it is open to modifications.

Faced with the threat from the private sector that they will withdraw the investment, he assured that they will not leave since the initiative states that the private sector will have 46% of the electricity market in Mexico, which is equivalent to all the electricity consumed in Argentina.

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MEASURES TAKEN

BY STATES IN MEXICO

BAJA CALIFORNIA The State of Baja California remains considered medium-risk or yellow light for the State government and highrisk or orange light for the Federal government. Official reports confirmed 2,541 active cases in the last week, with hospital occupancy at 63.75%. The vaccination plan continues this week with the application of the first and second doses of Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, and Sinovac to the adult population. The vaccination plan for children of 12 to 17 years old with comorbidities started this week in Tijuana, Ensenada, and Mexicali.

SONORA The State of Sonora is considered lowrisk or green light, with only seven municipalities out of 72 in the mediumrisk tier or yellow light. 33 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, and the registration for vaccination in adolescents between 12 and 17 continues directly on the government portal.

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MEASURES TAKEN

BY STATES IN MEXICO

COAHUILA The Secretary of Health in the State, Roberto Bernal Gomez, announced that Coahuila is on a green traffic light since in recent times the number of infections and hospitalized people has been reduced.

TAMAULIPAS The Federal Welfare delegation in Tamaulipas announced that Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines will be applied to the lagging population, while those from AstraZeneca will continue to be on hold.

NUEVO LEON Although the state’s epidemiological semaphore indicators were down in week 41 of 2021, the government decided to maintain the same measures and restrictions as the previous week, a 75 percent capacity in business transactions and services. However, this week the access restrictions for pregnant women were removed.

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MEASURES TAKEN

BY STATES IN MEXICO

QUERETARO Queretaro’s Minister of Health, Martina Perez Rendon, estimated that the fourth wave of COVID-19 will start in the state by the end of November or early December.

In this sense, she specified that at the latest at the beginning of December, a rebound in the number of COVID-19 cases in the entity is expected. By the end of December and the beginning of January, the most critical stage is expected. Likewise, she reminded that if a risk is seen by then, the Technical Health Committee will have to analyze whether to go back to Scenario B. Even Perez Rendon advanced that a rethinking and adjustments will be made to the scenarios regarding the restrictive measures.

The application of the second dose of the anti-COVID vaccine will conclude on November 19. Subsequently, the Welfare Secretariat will open new vaccination days for the stragglers. The objective is that 90 percent of the state’s target population, that is, one million 600 thousand inhabitants, have their complete vaccination schedule for the Christmas holidays.

JALISCO With an average of 34 confirmed deaths per day, so far in October, there have been 792 COVID-19 victims reported in Jalisco, a figure higher than that registered in October 2020 when there were 768, according to reports from the Federal Health Secretariat. The daily technical report of the federal agency reports this Saturday 49 more deaths, confirmed in the last 24 hours, the accumulated reached 16,778 deaths since the beginning of the sanitary contingency in March previous year.

Hypertension is the main comorbidity, 51.31% of those who died from the virus had high blood pressure, and 40.21% had diabetes. The record of hospitalizations shows that 400 patients were treated in public hospitals and 52 in private institutions. The demand for care in hospitals has decreased; a month ago, there were 756 hospitalized patients.

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MEASURES TAKEN

BY STATES IN MEXICO

AGUASCALIENTES At the conclusion of the special vaccination day for children between 12 and 17 years of age with comorbidities, the Delegation of Development Programs reported that a total of 4,620 children and adolescents were immunized. The representative of the Federal Government in Aguascalientes, Nora Ruvalcaba Gamez, pointed out that on Thursday, October 21, 2,178 doses were applied, while today, Friday, October 22, 2,442 were administered, for a total of 4,620 doses, in this case of the Pfizer/BioNTech biologic, which is authorized for this age group. It should be recalled that a total of 5,850 doses were available for this day; those that were not used are kept frozen and will be used when the second doses are applied. On this occasion, the vaccination sites were the General Hospital of Zone No. 3 of the IMSS, the Centenario Hospital Miguel Hidalgo, and the General Hospital of the ISSSTE in Aguascalientes, where no incidents were reported.

GUANAJUATO Guanajuato remains the state with the second-highest number of active cases of COVID-19 nationwide. However, the number of infections decreased in the last week, marking the lowest number in the previous two and a half months. According to reports from Guanajuato’s Ministry of Health of Guanajuato, from October 18 to 24, 3,137 positive coronavirus cases were confirmed, which means a considerable decrease concerning the last 10 weeks, when at its peak, it even reached over 5,500 infections during August. On the other hand, for this previous weekly period, 145 deaths were confirmed, which is an increase compared to the 111 reported in the last week from October 11 to 17. However, the Geographic Information Platform of the UNAM on COVID-19 in Mexico indicates that, until last Saturday night, the state of Guanajuato was the second with the second-worst record of active cases, with 3,544 considered in the last 15 days, only below the record of 5,502 in Mexico City. The most affected municipality in Guanajuato is Leon, which ranks fourth in the country with 847 cases, below Alvaro Obregon and Iztapalapa in Mexico City and Mexicali. It should be noted that during the last week, a total of 448 new cases per day were averaged in Guanajuato, in a record that has remained practically the same in previous weeks.

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MEASURES TAKEN

BY STATES IN MEXICO

STATE OF MEXICO The Secretary of Health of the State of Mexico, Francisco Javier Fernandez Clamont, informed that they are already working on the reopening of health services, which were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to face the new needs that exist among the population. He indicated that given the current status of the pandemic and the drop in indicators such as the number of people hospitalized, new infections, and the progress of the National Vaccination Strategy against COVID-19, the deconversion of hospitals is being analyzed in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health and the institutions that make up the health sector of the state of Mexico.

CDMX Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, said today, October 26, 2021, that next Friday, the government will meet the goal of vaccinating the entire adult population aged 18 years and older with at least one dose against COVID. This means that 79% of the population of 18 years and older has at least one dose. Also, in Mexico City, children and adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age who have any comorbidity will be vaccinated this week.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH IN MEXICO RETAIL, SERVICES, AND TOURISM COMPANIES BET ON INCREASING THEIR ONLINE SALES DURING BUEN FIN 2021 The country’s commerce, services, and tourism sector is betting on increasing its online sales during the Buen Fin 2021 program and reaching digital marketing of 45% of total sales, higher than that recorded during 2020 -period of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic-, when 40% was reported, which will allow exceeding the 239,000 million pesos recorded the previous year.

“In 2020, Mexico reported 67 million internet users of legal age; the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the world. 8 out of 10 users reported having made a purchase online in the last year, so this means that consumers are increasingly willing to use internet platforms,” said Hector Tejeda, president of the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco-Servytur).

While participating in the eShow to define the strategies for the Buen Fin 2021, Guillermo Romero, secretary of Concanaco, said that even though the economy is in green light -which allows a greater in-person capacity in stores-, the established commerce sector has defined digitalization as the technological tool that will give growth in sales and economic recovery to the country.

“The digital theme is what will have the greatest impact on the Buen Fin 2021, in the eleventh edition. In 2020, online sales represented 40% of total commercialization, and today (in 2021), we are looking for it to rise to 45%”, he said.

Romero commented that Concanaco has worked on the digital issue, “it is the fundamental part, and it is the best ally we will have every year, and it has been better.

And in 2021, the pandemic has directed us to the digital issue, and we already lived it in 2020, but 2021 will be better”.

SOURCE: El Economista

The Vice President of Research at the Internet Association Mx, Gonzalo Rojon, referred that in the last year and a half, e-commerce presented the biggest rebound, in which consumption habits have changed through the presence of digital platforms, which allow the recovery of consumption.

“The digital will not be reversed...” he warned, so he called on merchants to be aggressive with offers, to have a good image, and to position their brand through digital platforms.

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TOWARDS THE “NEW NORMAL”

DISTRIBUTION OF DEATHS PER STATE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC

INFORMATION UPDATED ON OCTOBER 25, 2021 AT 19:00 HRS LOCAL TIME.

NEW CASES REPORTED: 1,121

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

CONFIRMED CASES: 3,784,448

NEW DEATHS REPORTED: 87

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 286,496

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INCREASE OF CONFIRMED CASES SINCE THE FIRST REPORT MAP WITH THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE INCIDENCE RATE OF ACCUMULATED CASES OF COVID-19 BY ENTITY OF RESIDENCE.

National rate 20.72

0 to 10.0 (8 states)

40.1 to 50 (1 states)

10.1 to 20 (10 states)

50.1 to 60 (2 states)

20.1 to 30 (6 states)

60.1 to 70 (1 states)

30.1 to 40 (4 states)

>70 (1 states)

Elaborated by Prodensa with information from the Health Ministry of Mexico

PANDEMIC’S SITUATION IN THE WORLD • As of October 22, 2021, globally there have been reported 242,348,657 confirmed cases (445,284 new cases) of COVID-19 and 4,927,723 deaths (7,153 new deaths*). Lethal rate: 2%. In the last 24 hours, 445,284 cases and 7,153 deaths were reported globally.

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

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TOWARDS THE “NEW NORMAL” INCIDENTS OF CONTAGIONS IN THE POPULATION

BY REGION AS OF OCTOBER 26

DEATH INCIDENTS IN POPULATION

BY REGION AS OF OCTOBER 26

SOURCE: https://www.gob.mx/salud/

EHS

LABOR

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COVID-19 VACCINE BOOSTER FAQS If we need a booster shot, does that mean that the vaccines aren’t working?

No. COVID-19 vaccines are working well to prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even against the widely circulating Delta variant. However, public health experts are starting to see reduced protection, especially among certain populations, against mild and moderate disease.

What are the risks to getting a booster shot?

So far, reactions reported after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot were similar to that of the 2-shot primary series.

Fatigue and pain at the injection site were the most commonly reported side effects, and overall, most side effects were mild to moderate. However, as with the 2-shot primary series, serious side effects are rare but may occur.

Am I still considered “fully vaccinated” if I don’t get a booster shot?

Yes. Everyone is still considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose in a 2-shot series, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as the J&J/Janssen vaccine.

DAVID ANTUNEZ Environmental, Health, and Safety Director.

THE USE OF VIDEO GAMES AS HR TOOLS Recent studies have shown how employers can benefit from videogames as tools for attracting, selecting, training, and developing talent. Young talent tends to develop different skills when playing video games. Some of those skills are transferable to the workplace, both digital skills but also social skills.

Gamification is not a new concept for HR, especially for the training areas.

The increasing use of digital platforms and the need for companies to have a workforce competent in the use of new technologies has made the gamer community a pool of potential candidates for the companies. Attracting them is the challenge.

Adopting video games for selection processes and onboarding or developing talent is a trend that will continue to grow.

ALVARO GARCIA HR, Vice President

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