MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City, one of the world’s largest cities and the epicentre of the country’s novel coronavirus epidemic, will begin a gradual reopening June 1, its mayor said yesterday, even as daily new infections continue to set records.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum called on the city’s nine million residents to continue social distancing measures through June 15, but said some sectors of the economy would be allowed to resume operations at the start of June.

Impatience with being shut up at home, household financial demands and a lack of any enforcement already drew more and more people back into the streets in recent weeks. More customers clustered at the city’s famous street food stands and traffic has picked up. The city never shut down its subway system, which millions depend on for transportation.

Sheinbaum’s reopening plan included some of the industries that the federal government already approved to return to work like construction, but added bicycle sales and beer production.

The mayor said bike shops are being exempted because she wants to promote bicycle use as a way to help improve the health of city residents. As elsewhere around the world, Mexico’s COVID-19 dead have included a high percentage of people suffering from ailments such as diabetes and obesity.

Some businesses never shut down in the city, but implemented social distancing measures. At an office goods store in a central neighbourhood, a dozen people lined up in the parking lot outside. A security guard with a mask and bottle of hand sanitiser let customers enter one at a time only when an employee was available to escort them and after a squirt of gel on their hands.

As of Tuesday night, Mexico City reported more than 15,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and nearly 1,500 deaths. Nationally, there were 2,713 new confirmed infections announced Tuesday, taking the total to over 54,000 cases, with more than 5,500 deaths.

Sheinbaum has acknowledged that the real number of deaths in Mexico City is surely higher, but says an independent panel will have to review suspected cases and make a determination. City death records reported by an anti-corruption watchdog group suggested the death toll could be three times as high in the capital.

The city’s graduated reopening will be based on its hospital occupancy, which currently stands at 76 per cent.

“The trend continues increasing, but we hope this trend will decrease in the coming weeks,” Sheinbaum said.

The rest of the city’s economic activity won’t be allowed to resume until hospital occupancy drops below 59 per cent. Even then, restaurants, hotels, and churches will be limited to 30 per cent of their capacity.

Sporting events are to resume without fans. But in professional soccer, Mexico’s most popular sport that had been shut down since March 15, club owners are still debating whether to restart their season or just call it off.

Fanny Alejandra Manriquez Ezquivel, a city employee who has continued working and not quarantined at home, said yesterday that she thinks it is time for the city to return to some semblance of normality.

“Sooner or later we’re all going to get infected and you’ve got to return to normalcy,” Manriquez said. “They’re the ones who know and have the certainty of how to manage the city.”