June 16 coronavirus news

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has announced a complete lockdown for four of its major districts, including the capital Chennai. 

The lockdown will restart from June 19 and will be extended till the end of the month.

During the lockdown period, only essential services will be allowed to operate in the affected areas. 

Tamil Nadu is the latest state to extend its lockdown after the Indian government announced earlier this month that it will begin opening up the economy and facilitate movement after more than two months of restrictions.

Earlier in June, the states of West Bengal, Punjab and Mizoram also announced lockdown extensions. 

Tamil Nadu has recorded the second highest number of cases in the country. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 46,504 cases have been reported there, including 479 deaths.

New Zealand recorded two new cases of Covid-19 today, the country's Ministry of Health announced.

They are the first cases to be reported in the country in 24 days.

The two new infections are both women from the same family who arrived in New Zealand from the UK via Australia, according to the ministry's news release.

The women were allowed on compassionate grounds to leave their isolation at a hotel in Auckland and travel to Wellington via private vehicle to visit a relative who has since died, Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield said in a news briefing today.

He added that one of the women experienced "mild symptoms," but put them down to a pre-existing condition. The women didn't use any public facilities during their journey. 

Local public health staff are testing and isolating one additional family member who may be at risk of exposure, and they are tracing potential contacts -- including people on the same flight from Brisbane and those in the same isolation facility.

Last week, New Zealand lifted almost all domestic coronavirus restrictions, though stringent rules on entering the country remain in place.

The latest infections bring New Zealand's total number of confirmed cases to 1,156. 

Brazil's attorney-general has called for an investigation into several invasions of hospitals in the country, after its President called on Brazilians to inspect the conditions of medical wards treating Covid-19 patients.

Augusto Aras' request will be sent on Monday to several state prosecutor offices, including in São Paulo and Brasilia, where hospital invasions occurred on June 4 and June 9 respectively, according to a news release by the AG's office. 

On June 4, several state deputies -- including some from Bolsonaro's party (PSL) -- also invaded a Covid-19 field hospital in São Paulo and took pictures of it, and patients without authorization, the city's mayor told CNN Brasil.

In a Facebook Live last Thursday, Bolsonaro called on citizens to enter hospitals to film the conditions themselves in order "to show if the beds are occupied or not." 

Read the full story:

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Investigations launched after Bolsonaro tells Brazilians to inspect hospitals themselves

Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's father has died from complications from Covid-19, the Congresswoman announced on Monday.

In a statement announcing his death, Omar said, “It is with tremendous sadness and pain that I share that my father, Nur Omar Mohamed, passed away today due to complications from COVID-19. No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him. My family and I ask for your respect and privacy during this time."

President Donald Trump’s plan to hold a rally in Tulsa on Saturday seems like a “terrible” idea in the time of Covid-19, Erin Bromage, an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, told CNN's Don Lemon Monday night. 

The plan “got worse,” he said, learning that the President decided to expand the size of the rally.

In addition to an indoor stadium that holds thousands, the campaign is making additional room for his followers with a 40,000 convention hall next door. 

“I was writing about this today and 19,000 people put in a stadium, it’s like a carnival event in some of the rallies with people yelling and screaming, people singing,” Bromage said. “It just seems like it’s the complete recipe for something terrible to happen.”

About one in five people around the world could have an increased risk of getting severely ill from Covid-19 because they have an underlying health condition -- and this risk varies by age, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the journal Lancet Global Health on Monday, estimates that 1.7 billion people, or 22% of the world population, have at least one underlying condition that puts them at a higher risk of severe complications of Covid-19.

That ranges from less than 5% of people younger than 20 and more than 66% of those 70 and older.

"However, for many of these individuals, their condition might not be diagnosed or known to the health system, or their increased risk could be quite modest," the researchers, from institutions around the world including the United Kingdom, United States and China, wrote.

The World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies have warned that older adults and people of any age with certain underlying medical conditions -- such as lung disease, serious heart conditions, or diabetes -- can be at a higher risk for severe Covid-19.

The new study included data from the United Nations on underlying health conditions among people living in 188 different countries.

While the study used data from two large studies as sources, both studies could have underestimated the prevalence of some conditions.

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.