Mexican state health minister dies after being hospitalized for COVID-19

By Laura Gottesdiener

MONTERREY (Reuters) - The health minister of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Dr. Jesus Grajeda, has died, Chihuahua's governor said on Sunday, nearly two weeks after Grajeda was hospitalized with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

"I have no words to express all my feelings in this moment, except for profound sadness," Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning, saying Grajeda had died of heart failure.

With more than 385,000 confirmed cases and nearly 43,500 deaths as of Saturday, Mexico has the world's fourth-highest death toll from the coronavirus.

Latin America is the region most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Will Dunham)