All New Yorkers in US will need to be vaccinated if they want to go to work, the city's mayor has announced, BBC reported.

Public sector employers already have to be inoculated, but the mandate will now be extended to all private sector employees, Bill de Blasio told MSNBC.

The policy will take effect on 27 December, he said.

He said New York would be the first US city to mandate vaccines for private sector workers, affecting around 184,000 businesses.

A mandate for public sector workers which came into force earlier this autumn met vocal resistance, and led some employees to leave their jobs. However, rates of vaccination rose in response to the policy.

Ten cases of the new Omicron variant, which is thought to be more transmissable than previous strains of Covid, have been identified in New York City and the immediate surrounding region.