South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday that the government would prepare for a gradual return to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic amid a higher vaccination rate.
Kim presided over an inaugural meeting of the government-civilian committee to draw up measures for the return to normal life under the pandemic.
He said that the country was currently at the stage of preparing to return to normalcy carefully.
The committee, composed of civilian experts and government officials, was launched to come up with the so-called “living with COVID-19’’ plan.
Kim said that the government would prepare to turn the COVID-19 pandemic from an unknown terror into a controllable infectious disease to return the normal life back to people.
The prime minister noted that it was not possible to take off masks right away, saying the government also would need to prepare for the worst pandemic situation.
He added that the government could consider a new way of virus prevention measures, such as the vaccine pass that allows fully-vaccinated people more access to multi-use facilities.
In the latest tally, the country had administered COVID-19 vaccines to over 40.12 million people, or 78.1 per cent of the population, with 60.8 per cent being fully inoculated.
