(Photo: Yonhap)
A senior health official believes South Korea will be able to control the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, without the need for more quarantine measures, once 85 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
Kwon Jun-wook told reporters Thursday that in theory, if the threshold is reached, restrictions on gatherings and business operations could be totally lifted.
The government has been pushing its goal of 70 percent fully vaccinated to get COVID-19 herd immunity by November as a way to break the chain of transmission and eventually return to normal daily life.
But health authorities have warned that even if herd immunity is reached, some measures, like the use of face masks, will not go away.
More than 61 percent of people in the country have so far been fully vaccinated, according to KDCA data.
Kwon emphasized that the vaccination rate has been rising swiftly thanks to the devotion of medical personnel and the public's active cooperation with the government's antivirus measures.
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