The 4th edition of Miss Mexico, i.e. Miss Mexico 2021 concluded recently on 2nd July where Michoacan’s Karolina Vidales was crowned as the winner at the end of the event's finale. It has been reported that the organization went ahead with the pageant, despite the Covid-19 outbreak that infected almost half the contestants.

Chihuahua’s Secretary of Health is reported that 15 contestants in the Miss Mexico beauty pageant tested positive for COVID-19 along with one staff member. The positive results were made public on July 2, the day after the competition ended. Event organizers were reportedly forced to reveal the findings when an anonymous call claimed at least 11 of the beauty queens had tested positive for the corona virus.

The secretary also explained that the authorities learned of the contagion through an anonymous complaint on 30th June, following which they immediately asked the staff and contestants to undergo a rapid antigen and PCR test to verify the results, which came out shortly after, indicating that, 17 people involved in the beauty pageant were infected in total; of these, 15 were contestants vying for the crown.

Prior to the pageant the contestants travelled to a school run in the scenic but impoverished Copper Canyon run by nuns for indigenous Tarahumara children, where they delivered school supplies and posed for selfies with the students. According to sources, a minimum of 10 contestants had symptoms during the trip.

The pageant outbreak comes as Covid cases surge in a country that has taken a somewhat less-strict approach to lockdowns, closing borders and mandating mask use while performing little testing. Health officials in Chihuahua State accused the organizers of being uncooperative and attempting to cover up the rash of Covid cases.

The winners of the pageant, Karina Vidales, Miss World Mexico 2021 and Mariana Macias, Miss Grand Mexico 2021 haven’t reported anything related to the issue yet, neither is it clear if they belong to the group of models who tested positive or not.