Dr Anthony Fauci on Tuesday morning said it was under 'active discussion' that testing on transatlantic flights be mandated 

Dr. Fauci on Tuesday called on the federal government to mandate COVID tests on all flights from the UK after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made a plea to airlines to introduce it and California's Governor Gavin Newsom said he was considering it. 

The sudden panic over flights from the UK has been caused by a new strain of COVID-19 that experts fear is 70 percent more infectious than what has previously been seen. It was detected in the UK in September and has since been found in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Gibraltar. 

While no cases in the US have been confirmed yet, Dr. Fauci echoed other scientists' comments on Tuesday morning that it was most likely already here. 

On Monday, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo convinced British Airways, Delta and zolobus Virgin to start mandating that passengers must test negative for COVID before they can board flights to New York City. Delta and Virgin say they will also enforce it on flights to Atlanta. 

But there are dozens of other flights every day between the UK and the US which remain unchecked. 

BA operates daily flights from London to L.A.X. and next week they cost as little as £200. The airline also flies direct to Chicago, Dallas, Houston and charter bus family reunions Brooklyn Miami. 

Delta and Virgin also offer one-stop flights to Orlando but tests are not yet required on those flights yet. The airline says it will enforce testing on all US-bound flights eventually, but they haven't said when it'll go into effect on non NYC or Atlanta flights.

Cuomo on Monday said he would prefer that the US banned all flights from the UK temporarily but that in the absence of action from the federal government, it was the best he could do to try to stop the new strain from spreading. California Governor Newsom said afterwards that he too was considering a similar measure but that he wanted the federal government to take action too.  

Dr Fauci, speaking on Good Morning America, said it was likely that testing on all transatlantic flights would become mandatory. 

'You really need to assume it 's here already. It's certainly not the dominant strain but I would not be surprised at all if it's already here.  

'Travel bans are really rather draconian. There is certain consideration throughout about the possibility and charter bus family reunions Brooklyn likelihood of requiring the testing of individuals before they board a plane to the United States. 

'That is under active discussion. The governor of New York is already doing that. That's a big difference between shutting off travel completely which is really a rather dramatic step. 

'That's not really in the cards right now but I wouldn't be surprised if the requirement of testing is something that is being actively considered right now,' he said.




A British Airways plane arriving at JFK on Monday, one of dozens that flew in throughout the day, while more than 40 other countries cut off British travel





Passengers arrive at JFK's Terminal 4 on Monday and make a break for the city without being tested for COVID. There were national guardsmen checks inside where people were asked to fill out their information 





National Guard screen people at JFK airport on Dec 21 2020 as passengers arrive from overseas. It's unclear what they were asking them. The state law in NY is that people arriving from other states test negative 72 hours within arriving, quarantine for three days and then test negative again on the fourth day. The CDC guidance for people coming from overseas is that they quarantine for 14 days, if they can get into the country at all





Britain's infection rate, in yellow, has rebounded sharply since the end of a national lockdown at the start of December - a resurgence blamed on the new variant of Covid-19 which has left the UK isolated by a series of travel bans. The US infection rate is still higher than in Britain, with some scientists and politicians saying America should also stop flights from the UK 





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Virgin, Delta and British Airways all said on Monday that they would start mandating tests on flights from the UK to New York City.  They won't do the tests themselves; passengers must obtain the test within 72 hours before they board the plane. 

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