Following days of pressure, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to close the nation’s largest public school system.

New York City’s public school system, the nation’s largest, will begin shutting down this week, by far the most far-reaching and disruptive measure the city has taken yet to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The city’s vast system of 1,800 schools now faces its most serious challenge in decades, as it embarks on a mass closure that could potentially last through the end of the school year.