Hundreds of Cuban doctors and nurses who were sent to Mexico City to help respond to the coronavirus pandemic could stay longer if cases keep rising, a senior government official said.

In May, 585 healthcare workers from the island nation arrived in Mexico City, epicenter of the pandemic in Mexico. It marked one of the largest medical crews that Cuba, which dispatches doctors around the world, has sent to tackle the pandemic.

Mexico City Health Minister Oliva Lopez said the Health Institute for Wellbeing (Insabi) is paying the Cuban health ministry 135 million pesos ($6.03 million).

The agreement was designed to end July 31, “but with the possibility of extension,” Lopez said in an interview on Friday. “We must deeply consider the dynamics of the epidemic.”

Biomedical engineers and epidemiologists have also been deployed, she said.

Mexico City has almost 37,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, about 25% of the national total – Reuters.