About 500 businesses have been closed during the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic, the Mexicali Chamber of Commerce reported.

The closure has occurred between March 2020 and the end of 2021.

Businesses were forced to shut down their doors due to economic instability to survive.

Businesses were forced to temporarily close during the high peaks of cases, and later mandated to partially reopen.

Chamber President Lidia Granados said many other companies sought training and other services to remain open.

The number of affiliated businesses closed equals about a third of total company members.

Most of those affected companies were small businesses, with some of them as old as five years.

At the same time, informal business activity increased by 40 percent, Granados said.

Recently, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported a yearly increase of over 13 percent of workers in the informal sector. Granados considered that many businesses that are still open are just struggling to survive.