The Finance Ministry will set up economic measures ahead of the country's gradual shift to coexisting with COVID-19 that could begin as early as late next month.

South Korean Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki held a meeting of senior ministry officials on Monday and instructed them to devise policies that will support the nation returning to “normalized” everyday life, drawing from precedents in other nations that have already made the transition.

The move comes after South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Monday to check up on vaccination efforts and government policies for the rest of the year.

The government aims to fully vaccinate at least 70 percent of the nation’s population by the end of October and begin transitioning into a system of living with COVID-19, which focuses on managing severe symptoms rather than on daily new cases.