A state official said Baja California seeks to reduce the number of active Covid-19 cases before winter arrives given the expected increase of acute respiratory illnesses.

“We had noticed weather is changing,” Secretary of Public Health Alonso Perez Rico said. “We want to reduce (cases) before winter.”

The state reported a decline of cases Monday, but the state had a tendency of a significant increase in the five previous days.

Before that, the state saw a decrease for four weeks.

Just on Monday the state recorded five fatalities and 96 new cases, while Mexicali left the top 20 list of municipalities with the highest amount of active cases in the country.

As of Monday, Mexicali had recorded 554 active Coronavirus cases.

This week was the fourth of the school reopening. According to state reports so far 61,768 students were back to in school instruction.

The state Department of Education has reported 22 confirmed Covid-19 cases, four suspicious, as well as nine classrooms and five schools closed.

“This data reflects very low statistics,” Acting Secretary of Education Gerardo Solis said. “We keep following protocol.”