MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Cats exhibit cold-like symptoms, such as runny nose, fever and cough, when infected with the novel coronavirus, the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision informed on Wednesday.

"According to the information published on the website of the World Organization for Animal Health, cats (both domestic and wild cats) and minks often exhibit clinical symptoms of an acute respiratory infection. Namely, the animals exhibit such symptoms as high fever, cough, sneezing, discharge from nose and eyes," the message informs.

The federal service added that some animals exhibited symptoms of an acute intestinal infection, such as vomiting and diarrhea. Meanwhile, dogs do not seem to exhibit any symptoms.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 6,468,700 people have been infected worldwide and more than 382,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 3,078,900 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 432,277 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 195,957 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 5,215 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.