Cuomo Orders Airlines to Test U.K. Fliers Amid Outbreak of Mutant Covid Strain

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked the three airlines that fly from the U.K. directly to New York to add the state to a list of 120 countries requiring pre-boarding Covid tests.

British Airways has already agreed to do so, starting Tuesday, Cuomo said Monday at a virus briefing. The other two airlines are Delta and Virgin Atlantic, he said. The three carry several thousand passengers every day, said Cuomo, who added that he believes “intuitively” that the new mutation found in the U.K. has already reached the U.S.

“I hope the other two airlines agree, or New York state will consider other options,” he said.

Cuomo blasted the U.S. government for “doing nothing” and urged officials to enact a travel ban from the U.K. or require testing of passengers. The new strain of the virus that has been discovered in the U.K. “is flying around the world,” he said.

“I believe intuitively it’s already here,” the governor said. “This is another disaster waiting to happen.”

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