ABSTRACT
The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and deaths registered in Mexico during 2020 could be underestimated, due to the sentinel surveillance adopted in this country. Some consequences of following this type of epidemiological surveillance were the high case fatality rate and the high positivity rate for COVID-19 shown in Mexico in 2020. During this year, the Mexican Ministry of Health only considered cases from the public health system, which followed this sentinel surveillance, but did not consider those cases from the private health system. To better understand this pandemic, it is important to include all the results obtained by all the institutions capable of testing for COVID-19; thus, the Mexican Government could then make good decisions to protect the population from this disease.