The government said it expects the share of Koreans who received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will exceed 50 percent on Saturday, 176 days after it launched the inoculation program on Feb. 26.
"The proportion of people receiving the first dose is likely to exceed 50 percent of the population on Saturday," said Kim Ki-nam, a member of the Corona 19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team. "We also expect that the share of people who will have completed their vaccination will surpass 50 percent in the first week of October."
Korea has vaccinated 24,812,397 people – 10,780,399 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, 11,026,536 with Pfizer's vaccine, 1,129,782 with Janssen's vaccine, 1,875,680 with Moderna's vaccine – with the first shot of the vaccine up 501,043 from the previous day.
The figure accounts for 48.3 percent of the country's population.
The quarantine authorities hinted at changing the quarantine strategy to “living with the Covid” in late September or early October when more than 70 percent of the population completes the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
"If the nation achieves its primary vaccination goal, we can start discussing the transition to living with the Covid-19 virus and focus on the management of patients with severe cases rather than suppression of confirmed cases," an official said.
Lee Ki-il, a division chief at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, went on to say, "While no specific timeframe has been set, the government will start reviewing the scenario about two weeks after achieving its first vaccination goal."
Lee explained that relevant ministries and regulatory bodies are discussing a new strategy after listening to experts' opinions.
After the daily task force meeting, officials also said they had updated countries exempt from undergoing mandatory quarantine if they received Covid-19 vaccinations approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Under the revised plans, those who enter Korea from Japan, Peru, or Ghana will undergo a two-week quarantine even if they have received the Covid-19 vaccine. In contrast, those entering from Malaysia, Uruguay, and Paraguay will no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine if they have received the vaccine.
At the interagency meeting, the government also extended its current social distancing measures for another two weeks, as the daily Covid-19 cases stayed above 2,000 for the second consecutive day.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) confirmed 2,052 new virus cases, including 2,001 local infections, raising the total caseload to 232,859. The nation also reported six more people died from the virus, raising the death toll to 2,197 with a fatality rate of 0.94 percent.
The greater Seoul area, which houses around half of the nation's 52-million population, is currently under Level 4 social distancing scheme, the highest distancing level, while most other regions will be subject to Level 3 except for a few areas, such as Busan, Daejeon, and Jeju Island, that have decided to upgrade its distancing rules to Level 4 preemptively.
Under the extended guidelines, restaurants and cafes in regions under Level 4 distancing rules will have to close shop at 9 p.m., an hour earlier than the current 10 p.m. curfew starting Monday.
takeout and delivery services are available after that time, following Level 4 rules.
However, while authorities have maintained their ban of private gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m., they will allow the gatherings of four, including two fully vaccinated people, even after that time as part of the government's incentives for those inoculated.