June 16 coronavirus news

Pets might not infect people with coronavirus, but pet owners need to protect cats, dogs and other companion animals, the US Food and Drug Administration cautioned in a new YouTube video.

The video pushes the “aww” button with images of adorable furry kittens, ferrets, puppies and loving owners.

“Though it doesn’t seem like animals can give you the virus, it appears you can give it to them. So if you’re sick, avoid direct contact with your pets. If possible, have someone else care for them until you’re well again,” the FDA says in the video.

“Consider avoiding dog parks and other crowded public places,” it advises. And the six-foot rule applies to leashed pets, as well as to other people.

Housecats, as well as big cats in zoos, have been found to be infected with coronavirus, as well as farmed minks in the Netherlands.

“A small number of pet cats and dogs have been reported to be infected with the virus in several countries, including the United States. Most of these pets became sick after contact with people with COVID-19,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.

Weeks after lifting stay-at-home orders, some US states are seeing record numbers of hospitalizations from Covid-19 as thousands more Americans get infected every day.

As of Saturday, coronavirus cases were still increasing in at least 18 states -- several of which saw record or near-record highs. 

The map below shows how states' coronavirus numbers last week compare to the previous week.

Remember: Some states may see their number of new cases rise simply because they're testing more people. 

Increase in hospitalizations: On Monday, Texas reported its highest number of Covid-19 hospitalizations. At least 2,326 people have been hospitalized. There have been at least 89,108 cases of Covid-19, and at least 1,983 deaths in the state. 

Model forecasts more deaths: And a closely-watched coronavirus model that predicts Covid-19 deaths is now forecasting there will be more than 201,000 deaths in the United States by October 1.

Last week, the model, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, predicted 170,000 deaths for this same time period. The model was often cited by the White House early in the pandemic and is one of 19 models currently featured on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

As of today, the model projects that 201,129 people will die from Covid-19 in the US by October 1, with a possible range of 171,551 to 269,395 deaths.

Trump's testing claims: The model comes as President Donald Trump on Monday said that if they stopped testing for coronavirus, they wouldn't have any cases.

"If you don't test, you don't have any cases," he said. "If we stopped testing right now, we'd have very few cases, if any. But we do."

Mexico will conduct a safety review of Canadian health policies and procedures before allowing any more temporary workers to travel to Canada to work in the agricultural sector. 

“This is a temporary pause in order to determine the circumstances surrounding the safety conditions on farms,” said Oscar Mora, spokesman for the Mexican embassy in Ottawa. 

Mora said that Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, on behalf of the Mexican government, has been in daily communication with the Canadian government to try and understand why and how hundreds of Mexican workers have been infected with Covid-19, weeks after completing a mandatory 14-day quarantine in Canada. 

CNN has confirmed that two migrant workers from Mexico have died in the last few weeks and dozens more workers have been treated in hospital. 

The local health unit in Windsor-Essex, Ontario, where the deaths occurred, acknowledges that communal housing on farms and cramped conditions in packing facilities and greenhouses has contributed to the virus spread.

The temporary ban means that up to five thousand Mexican workers are currently waiting to come to Canada. 

More than 60,000 migrant workers travel to Canada every year for seasonal work in agricultural industries.

At least 29 neighborhoods are under lockdown in Beijing as 106 Covid-19 cases linked to the city's Xinfadi wholesale market have been confirmed in the last five days, according to the country’s National Health Commission (NHC). 

Here's breakdown of the new lockdowns:

The scenic tourist area of Shichachai, which houses a residential area, has also been put under heavy restrictions to curb the virus.

Spread to other provinces: NHC officials confirmed the virus from the market cluster has spread to at least three other provinces including Hebei, Sichuan and Liaoning. 

One patient in Sichuan had been to Beijing to visit her husband who worked in the market and took a flight back on June 9. Passengers on that flight are being asked to report to local authorities.

The World Health Organization called a coronavirus cluster of more than 100 cases in Beijing a “significant event.”

Speaking during a news briefing on Monday, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said, “In China, when you spend over 50 days without having any significant local transmission the cluster like this is a concern, and it needs to be investigated and controlled.”

“We're always concerned for clusters,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO infectious disease epidemiologist.

Van Kerkhove said every single case needs to be addressed, “but clusters are a special condition, because in any country we need to understand why is there the clustering?”

Ryan said now is the time to investigate what’s driving the new infections.

Some background: Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city's largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak.

The cases are linked to Xinfadi market in the southwest of the city, which supplies most of the capital's fresh fruit and vegetables. The market, which also sells meat and seafood, has been shut down since Saturday.

The new cluster has sent shock waves throughout China, with Beijing's municipal government spokesperson Xu Hejian describing it as "an extraordinary period" during a news conference Sunday.

Read more about the Beijing outbreak:

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China's new coronavirus outbreak sees Beijing adopt 'wartime' measures

At least 8 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Johns Hopkins reported 8,018,742 cases as of 12:30 a.m. ET Tuesday. The total number of deaths related to coronavirus globally is at least 436,406.

CNN reported just over a week ago that global cases had surpassed 7 million, on Sunday June 7.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

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Tracking coronavirus' global spread

Mexico's coronavirus case count reached a total of 150,254 on Monday, following an increase of 3,427 infections in the past 24 hours. 

The country's health ministry also reported 439 people have died from the virus since Sunday.

A total of 17,580 people are reported to have died in Mexico from coronavirus since the pandemic started.