Mexico's tally of confirmed COVID-19 deaths passed 10,000 on Monday, the health secretary said, following an increase of 237 on the previous day.

News of the updated toll -- now 10,167 -- came as Mexico announced it was gradually reopening its economy by reactivating its automotive, mining and construction sectors. Mexico is second only to Brazil in Latin America for COVID-19 deaths, although the South American giant has had close to three times as many.

However, Mexico's death rate compared to cases is much higher. It recorded almost 2,800 new cases on Monday taking its total over 93,000. "Today we began production activities related to the automotive industry, mining and the construction industry," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said earlier on Monday. "We have to move towards the new normal because it's necessary for our national economy, our people's wellbeing; we need to, little by little, return production, economic, social and cultural activity to normal."

Mexico shut down all but necessary economic activity on March 23, after Lopez Obrador had come under intense criticism and bucked the regional trend by resisting calls to impose a lockdown much earlier. On a visit to Quintana Roo state, where the popular Cancun seaside resort is located, Lopez Obrador also said tourism activity would be reopened from next week.