New York needs 'tracing army' to help slow coronavirus -Gov. Cuomo

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that he would need an "army" of between 6,400 and 17,000 people to handle contact tracing, a process for identifying the contacts of a person who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Health experts say that contact tracing is critical to isolating potentially contagious people in order to limit further outbreaks.

Cuomo said that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg would, in coordination with Johns Hopkins University, oversee the recruitment and training of these "contact tracers" and make the program available to governments worldwide.