Travellers to NY from Covid-19 hotspots need to provide contact info

Travellers flying to New York state from other states with high COVID-19 infection rates are required to provide contact information starting on Tuesday, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

A travel enforcement operation commences at airports across the state, and enforcement teams will greet arriving passengers from those states and request a completed form with their basic information, the governor said at Monday's briefing, Xinhua news agency reported.

Travellers who leave the airport without completing the form, which is distributed by airliners before arrival, will be subject to a US $2,000 fine and even a mandatory quarantine, the governor said.

Travellers coming to New York from designated states through trains and cars must also fill out the form online, according to the governor's office.

Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin have met the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory, bringing the total number of on the quarantine-restricted list to 22, the office said on Tuesday.

Of the 60,045 tests conducted in New York state on Monday, 912, or 1.5 per cent, were positive, bringing the statewide total to 403,175. The rate was a little bit higher than those recorded in the past two weeks, which were around 1 per cent.

Cuomo said in a press release on Tuesday that many of the new cases in the state are a result of a lack of compliance during the July 4 weekend. For example, he said, more than one-third of attendees of a party got infected with COVID-19.

"I cannot be more clear: Look at what's happening in the rest of the country - if we are not smart, if we don't wear masks and socially distance, cases will spike," he warned. "No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant."

--IANS

rt/