Achieving 80% Vaccination Rate Alone Won't Make 'With Corona' in October Easy

Celebrating 80% Vaccination Completion in Singapore
Reopening Stores Closed Last Month
Confirmed Cases Surge Over Twice Again
Declaration to Return to Previous Quarantine Policies

Chuseok Holiday and School Reopening Expansion
South Korea Faces Potential Delta Variant Surge
Need to Raise Vaccination Target Rate

On the 7th, citizens who received the vaccine at the COVID-19 vaccination center set up at Mapo Art Center in Mapo-gu, Seoul, are waiting in the adverse reaction monitoring area. Photo by Moohnam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy reporters Seo So-jeong and Lee Hyun-woo] Breakthrough infection cases and additional deaths are occurring one after another in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which have reached the COVID-19 vaccination rate of 80%, a major criterion for herd immunity. Concerns are growing that simply increasing vaccination rates will not guarantee success in quarantine measures, as the possibility of new variant viruses that significantly reduce vaccine effectiveness following the Delta variant has been raised.

COVID-19 Cases Surge Again in Singapore and UAE... Strengthening Previously Eased Quarantine Measures

According to Singapore's daily The Straits Times on the 7th (local time), the number of new COVID-19 cases reported by Singapore health authorities on that day was 332, marking the highest since August last year. The weekly number of cases also exceeded 1,200, more than doubling from 600 the previous week.

Lawrence Wong, Minister of Finance and co-chair of Singapore's COVID-19 Task Force (TF), announced at a press conference the day before, "If the spread is not contained, there could be more than 2,000 cases per day within a month and additional deaths may occur." He stated that the significantly eased quarantine measures from the end of last month would be strengthened again. It is known that retail workers who have frequent interpersonal contact will undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, and social activities of citizens will be regulated again for two weeks.

At the end of last month, Singapore's quarantine authorities celebrated achieving an 80% full vaccination rate by reopening closed stores, allowing dining inside restaurants, and stopping temperature checks, implementing a so-called With-COVID strategy. However, just one week later, they declared a return to previous quarantine policies.

In the UAE, which boasted one of the highest vaccination rates in the world alongside Singapore at 77% full vaccination, additional deaths have also occurred. According to local media Gulf News, UAE health authorities reported 952 new cases and 2 deaths on the previous day. Since the end of last month, there have been 7 COVID-19 deaths in the UAE over one week.

Is With-COVID Possible in October? "Cases May Not Decrease Significantly"

As the epidemic rapidly resurged in countries like Singapore and Israel that had already entered With-COVID, the South Korean government is facing a dilemma. The quarantine authorities are considering entering With-COVID by the end of next month. However, the full vaccination rate is still in the 30% range, significantly lower than Singapore's 80%, and with the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, cases could surge at any time.

In particular, tension is rising as domestic COVID-19 cases have surged back to the 2,000 range within a week. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, as of midnight on the 8th, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases increased by 2,050 from the previous day, totaling 265,423. Cases in the metropolitan area accounted for 1,476, or 73.3% of locally transmitted cases. This is the highest number since the domestic COVID-19 outbreak began.

Moreover, with the Chuseok holiday approaching and nationwide population movement increasing sharply, cases could rise further. The fact that most domestic infections are of the Delta variant also suggests that cases are unlikely to decrease quickly in a short period. From the 29th of last month to the 4th of this month, the detection rate of the Delta variant among domestic COVID-19 cases was 97.0%, up 2.7 percentage points from the previous week. Among variant cases, the Delta infection rate reached 99.3%. Variables such as expanded attendance at elementary, middle, and high schools and university openings are also piling up.

The still low full vaccination rate remains a challenge. According to the COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team, as of midnight on this day, the total number of fully vaccinated people was 18,807,546, accounting for 36.6% of the population. Experts have raised the need to raise the target vaccination rate, as infections are resurging and breakthrough cases are increasing even in countries with high vaccination rates overseas.

Professor Chun Eun-mi of the Respiratory Medicine Department at Ewha Mokdong Hospital emphasized, "Considering the high transmissibility of the Delta variant and the Singapore case, the vaccination target for achieving herd immunity should be raised to over 80%." Professor Jung Jae-hoon of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Gachon University College of Medicine said, "Even if the government's goal of 70% national vaccination is achieved, the public should recognize that cases will not decrease as before," adding, "We need to create a realistic With-COVID approach by controlling cases at a level where they do not surge and are suppressed, while increasing the full vaccination rate."