New York governor says may need 'army' of 17,000 to trace contacts of coronavirus patients

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that he would need an "army" of between 6,400 and 17,000 people to trace the contacts of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as part of a strategy to limit 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.