‘A lot of death’: Mexican government places Juarez on ‘high alert’ as virus outbreak spikes

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- The Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep through the city of Juarez and the state of Chihuahua, which has resulted in the Mexican government placing the region on "high alert."

Chihuahua Gov. Javier Corral Jurado said the federal government's designation would take effect beginning Monday, and he anticipated it being in effect for at least a week.

The governor said Juarez and the state will be under "red light" conditions during that time, meaning that no further reopening of the region's economy would occur.

On Friday, Juarez recorded 15 new virus deaths and 37 additional cases. Total deaths now number 371 and total cases have reached 1,709.

Juarez is responsible for the bulk of the 457 deaths to date in Chihuahua state and more than half of the state's 3,049 cases during the pandemic.

"There are days that we have 100% of patients on a ventilator," said Dr. Domingo Gomez, who practices emergency medicine at a Juarez hospital.

He told ABC News: "I watched a lot of people die. Even though we're doing [the best we could], there were a lot of death."

Even patients who seem to be doing better can suddenly become critical again, Gomez said in interview with ABC.

"This virus can kill somebody so quickly," he said. "You see somebody well; that person is talk to you and suddenly, in a moment, he dies."

While Juarez is among the nation's hot spots and is now being placed on "high alert" by the Mexican government, the administration of President Andres Manuel López Obrador has refused to apply mass testing, saying it would be a waste of money and effort.

"It is really a waste of time, waste of effort, waste of money," Mexico's chief epidemiologist, Hugo Lopez-Gatell told ABC News, "and it's fictional to believe that it can be implemented when you have hundreds of thousands of cases."

According to the Associated Press, Mexico has administered only about 370,000 tests since the pandemic began, in a country of over 125 million. That is about one test for every 335 inhabitants.

Nationwide, Mexico also appears to be stuck on a plateau of relatively high infection and death rates. As of Friday, the country reported a total of nearly 134,000 cases and nearly 16,000 deaths.

(ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.)