Apple closes all New York City stores amid rising COVID-19 cases

Apple said on December 27 it had closed all of its seven New York City retail stores due to an increase in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant rages across the United States.

Customers will be able to pick up online orders at the stores, an Apple spokesperson said.

The closed stores include outlets at Fifth Avenue, Grand Central and SoHo.

Earlier this month, Apple said it had temporarily closed three stores in the United States and Canada after a rise in COVID-19 cases and exposures among the stores' employees.

For the same reason, Apple also mandated that all its customers and employees wear masks at its U.S. retail stores.

Globally, concerns over the Omicron variant have prompted major companies to tighten their protocols.

Increasing cases have also resulted in the reinstatement of a nationwide vaccine-or-testing COVID-19 mandate for large businesses, which covers 80 million American workers, by a U.S. appeals court earlier this month. Opponents of the move have rushed to the Supreme Court to ask it to intervene.