South Korea on Wednesday said masks will no longer be required outdoors from July for those vaccinated with at least one COVID-19 shot.
The move is a bid to encourage older residents to get vaccinated as South Korea aims to immunise at least 70 per cent of its 52 million people by September, from just 7.7 per cent now.
People given at least one dose also will be allowed to gather in larger numbers starting June, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a coronavirus response meeting on Wednesday.
He said all quarantine measures would be adjusted in October once more than 70 per cent of residents had received their first dose.
Over 60 per cent of people aged between 60 and 74 had signed up for vaccination, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said.
South Korea will begin vaccinating the general public aged between 65 and 74 from Thursday in over 12,000 clinics.
South Korea reported 707 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 137,682 infections, with 1,940 deaths.
President Donald Trump's administration has ordered its missions abroad to stop scheduling new appointments for student visa applicants as the State Department prepares to expand social media vetting of foreign students.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, his office said, part of a diplomatic drive to end the war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest since World War Two.
Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, threatened unspecified measures against Israel on Tuesday and said Berlin would not export weapons used to break humanitarian law.
An explosion at a chemical plant in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong killed at least five people, with 19 injured and six missing, the state-run Xinhua agency said late on Tuesday.
The work of a US-backed private humanitarian organisation tasked with distributing aid in Gaza is a distraction from what is needed, such as the opening of crossing points, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The UAE has summoned the Israeli ambassador to the country, expressing strong condemnation over recent provocative actions against Palestinians in the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Muslim Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem.