There is no longer an outdoor mask rule after most have been vaccinated

• Israel took another step towards normalcy on Sunday, canceling its outdoor mask mandate.
• The launch of the vaccine was remarkably fast, with more than half of the adults being fully vaccinated.
• The Israeli prime minister praised the progress, but said the virus could return.
• See more articles on the Insider business page.

With more than half of its population completely vaccinated, Israel dropped its outdoor mask mandate on Sunday.

Masks are still needed in indoor public spaces, such as shops, malls and places of worship. But the change was a strong signal of the country’s progress against the pandemic, fueled by one of the oldest and fastest vaccine launches.

The outdoor masking rule has been in place continuously for about a year.

On Monday, the country took another step towards a pre-COVID-19 reality, completely reopening schools for the first time since September.

According to The New York Times vaccination watcher, 60% of Israel’s population received a first dose of vaccine, while 56% had both. The country’s population is about 9 million.

About 81 percent of Israelis over the age of 16 have been completely vaccinated, Reuters reported. People under the age of 16 are not eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Israel has overseen a rapid launch, and the effects appear to be showing. Sam Sokol reported to Insider that this was made possible by providing a large number of early doses and aided by the country’s centralized, data-driven health system.

A flexible approach to distributing the remaining doses also reduced waste and accelerated things, reported Susie Neilson of Insider.

New daily cases peaked in January and dropped to hundreds in April, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“We are leading the world right now when it comes to getting out of the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Reuters. “[But] I’m not done with the coronavirus yet. He can come back. “

Israel began asking people to wear masks outdoors in April last year, according to Haaretz.

Despite the general jubilation at the end of the term, some people are slowly adapting and still choosing to keep their masks outdoors, Haaretz reported.