Through Le Figaro with Reuters
The governor of New York state on Friday announced research indicating strains of the novel coronavirus had arrived from Europe, not China, and said travel bans decided by Donald Trump were too late to prevent the spread of the virus. Andrew Cuomo mentioned during his daily press briefing that a Northeastern University study estimated that more than 10,000 New Yorkers may have contracted the coronavirus when the state confirmed its first case of infection on March 1.
He added that he believed that the origin of the arrival of the virus in the state was likely Italy.
The Democratic governor noted that Donald Trump ordered the suspension of travel from China on February 2, more than a month after reports of an epidemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and that the Republican president restricted arrivals from Europe the following month. By that time, Cuomo said, the coronavirus had already spread widely across the United States. These comments fuel a heated political debate about when and how the novel coronavirus entered the United States, and whether US officials including Donald Trump could have saved more lives by acting sooner.
Andrew Cuomo has defended his approach to the epidemic, saying he announced containment measures 19 days after the confirmation of a first case of infection in New York, believing he was quicker to respond than any other governor. He also said that Donald Trump was right to question the reaction of the World Health Organization (WHO) to the epidemic.
To see also – Coronavirus: “cautious optimism” reigns in New York where the epidemic is in slight decline
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