• Methanol believed to involved in incidents across country
• Sale of liquor banned during Covid-19 pandemic

More than 100 Mexicans have died from drinking adulterated alcohol over the past month in a string of mass poisonings which followed a ban on the sale of liquor during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deaths from unsafe alcohol have been reported in at least four states. On Thursday, health officials in the central state of Puebla said the death toll there had reached 51 after a batch of moonshine was tainted with methanol – a wood alcohol which can cause blindness and kidney damage.

It is unclear if poisonings were related to coronavirus lockdowns as beer production was halted more than a month ago

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At least 35 people have died in Mexico after drinking methanol, the latest in a series of mass bad-alcohol poisonings since the country banned beer sales and many towns banned the sale of liquor.

At least 20 people died of presumed methanol poisoning in the town of Chiconcuautla in the central state of Puebla. State authorities said they had closed the stores where the suspect liquor had been sold, and seized about 50 gallons (200 liters) of it.

Doctors and nurses have been assaulted, thrown off buses and barred from their homes, accused of spreading coronavirus

Jovanna was walking home after a morning of hospital consultations when she heard a shout behind her. As she turned to look, she felt something wet in her face. Within seconds, her vision went cloudy and she smelled bleach.

“They picked me out because I was wearing scrubs,” said the ear, nose and throat doctor from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, as she described the attack which left her with conjunctivitis and burns on her skin. “I didn’t see anything – I don’t know who it was, but I know they attacked another doctor on the same day.”