New York asks airlines flying from UK to perform Covid tests.
The New York authorities have made a non-binding request to three airlines operating flights between the United Kingdom and this city – British Airways, Delta and Virgin Atlantic – to test their passengers for covid-19 before boarding the plane in view of the new mutation of the virus that has been detected in the United Kingdom and which is spreading more quickly, EFE reported.
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British Airways has responded positively to the demand of the authorities and will begin testing passengers traveling to New York from this Tuesday, announced Monday the governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who noted that the other two airlines have not yet responded to the request.
“I will do everything in my power and ask you to follow the example of British Airways,” Cuomo said, addressing the other two airlines at a press conference in which he asked them not to be “disrespectful” to New Yorkers.
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In case both airlines do not agree to test their passengers, Cuomo assured that he will take the appropriate measures, although he did not offer more details.
“I cannot suspend the flights, I urge the U.S. Government to do so. However, you are landing on New York soil and therefore I have legal jurisdiction that I can exercise,” he said.
State authorities do not have the jurisdiction to force airlines to perform this type of test, so Cuomo criticized the federal government for not taking any action to stop the arrival of the new strain of the virus in the United States.
“There are many countries that have restricted flights from the UK, many of them European. Some 120 countries have asked travelers to test negative for covid-19 before boarding the plane, and the United States has done nothing,” he added before noting that thousands of passengers from the United Kingdom arrive daily at New York through its airports.
Cuomo stated that although no cases of the British strain have been detected in the United States so far, he considers that it is already in the country “because it has been flying around the world.
The governor of New York had already asked on Sunday to stop the flights from British territory and today he was joined by the mayor of the Big Apple, Bill de Blasio, who considered that the best thing would be to temporarily prohibit trips from the United Kingdom and Europe or at least to demand a negative test before boarding.
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