New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he is committed to keeping the city open as it grapples with yet another spike in coronavirus cases.

Iran Press/America: The Democratic mayor said today that the city can't see schools and businesses closed again like in 2020 when Covid-19 first spread widely.

De Blasio has faced questions over the past week about whether he would call for closures as a wave of new cases fuelled by the Omicron variant has broken over the city.

De Blasio, in his waning days in office, made the announcement during his third COVID briefing in three days as he seeks to boost protection for the one-time pandemic epicenter, which is now in the throes of another intense viral wave.

The city's rolling case weekly average is up nearly 123% over the averages for the prior four weeks, Tuesday's data shows. Hospitalizations are up 12% by the same parameters, but the vast majority of those cases are people who aren't vaccinated. 219