CNA Staff, Jan 7, 2021 / 07:19 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barrón of Tijuana, on the border of Mexico and the United States, reported January 6 that he “remarkably improved” from COVID-19, which he had contracted after undergoing a prostate surgery and put him in danger of death.

In his statement, Archbishop Moreno Barrón said he will continue, “with some care for my operation to stay at home, waiting for a negative COVID-19 test result.”

He said he will also continue to “take care of my immune system and the lung fields that were affected.”

The Mexican archbishop thanked everyone “for their valuable prayers, which strengthened me, and for all their messages, which I could not answer in my isolation also from social networks.”

“As your archbishop, I want to be in the best physical condition to continue walking together, proclaiming that Christ lives risen in our midst and giving a new face of the Church in the midst of our society,” he said.

“I express to all my love as a father and pastor and I bless you always,” he concluded.

Four bishops and more than 120 priests have died in Mexico from COVID-19. Nine other Mexican bishops have tested positive, and most have recovered or are making favorable progress.

According to the Government of Mexico, as of January 5, 2021, more than 1.6 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the country, and more than 146,000 deaths have been registered.

In the state of Baja California, more than 35,000 cases and more than 5,000 deaths have been recorded.