The US government has asked a federal appeals court to immediately lift a court-ordered stay on a sweeping workplace Covid-19 vaccine rule to avoid “enormous” harm to public health, or alternatively to allow a masking-and-testing requirement, according to a court filing.

Delaying the rule by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that requires employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly would lead to thousands of hospitalisations and deaths, the government has said in the filing with the sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Reuters.