Cuomo asks the federal government to take action against the new virus variant

NY – The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, asked the president’s administration this Sunday Donald Trump to take the necessary precautions against the new mutation of the virus that the COVID-19 which originated in the UK and is spreading rapidly.

He emphasized during a press conference to discuss the pandemic that 120 European countries have already imposed new restrictions on people traveling from the UK.

The measures include a travel ban for that country and the negative test demand, but the United States has taken no action, which the Democratic governor finds “reprehensible”.

Cuomo wondered that there are still six daily flights arriving from that country to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) “and we have done nothing at all.”

“To me this is reprehensible because it is what happened in the spring” when the pandemic exploded in the US, he said, stating that at the moment “the variant arrives in the UK by air at JFK airport.

“One hundred and twenty countries need a test. We do not. Other European countries have imposed a ban. We don’t have it and today the variant takes the plane and lands at JFK. How many times in your life do you have to make the same mistake before you learn?

He recalled that the Ports Authority, which manages the bridges, highways, and ports of New York and New Jersey, does not have the authority to ban passengers or monitor their health, which is a job for the federal government.

On December 14, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned of a ‘new variant’ spreading very rapidly of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which had been identified in the Kingdom. United.

Hancock said British scientists had “discovered a new variant of coronavirus possibly related to its faster spread in southern England.”

The governor asked the federal government to consider multiple restrictions in the wake of the new variant of COVID-19, including the imposition of mandatory tests on people traveling from the UK to this country, as well as a new travel ban from Europe.

According to Cuomo, the actions he recommends are based on lessons learned in March, when the federal government was slow to impose a European travel ban that allowed the virus to spread uncontrollably through New York State and the country. .

The governor also indicated in his conference that there are 6,185 COVID-19 patients in hospitals in New York, 23 fewer than on Saturday, 822 new admissions and 123 deaths.