Coronavirus latest: Covid-19 infections in Tokyo hit new record

All New York City workers, including police, fire and education employees, will be required to be vaccinated by mid-September or else submit to a weekly test, the city’s mayor announced.

The deadline for the mandate will be September 13, when the autumn school term begins, and healthcare will next week become the first sector that will be subject to the requirement, Bill de Blasio told a press conference on Monday.

The mayor also urged private entities to consider setting similar vaccine mandates for their workplaces.

De Blasio last week said public healthcare workers would be required to be vaccinated or else be tested for Covid-19 weekly, but did not announce anything for other employees of the city.

That left New York City shy of efforts in San Francisco, which earlier this month became one of the first major cities in the US to mandate vaccinations for its public employees.

New York City’s new mandate will apply to employees in operations such as the police department, fire department and schools, and workers in offices as well as in the field.

Those who do not get vaccinated will have to take a weekly test for Covid-19, and unvaccinated individuals will need to wear a mask in indoor public settings. “September is when the rubber hits the road,” de Blasio said.

The mayor said private entities might consider mandating vaccinations among their employees. Last week, officials in three counties in the San Francisco Bay area urged employers in those areas to institute vaccine mandates, although the request was not binding.

The historic city of Savannah, Georgia has reinstated its mask mandate, owing to the “steep” increases in daily Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations across the city and the state of Georgia.

A reinstated mask mandate went into effect on Monday in St Louis, Missouri, one of the US hotspots for the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Los Angeles county brought back its mask order earlier this month, while a group representing 300 bars in San Francisco has introduced a “no vaccine, no entry” policy — unless patrons are able to produce a negative Covid-19 test carried out within the previous 72 hours.