Early on in the pandemic, there were high hopes that a vaccine would eventually allow society to return to normal.

But according to a recent study submitted to the central government, people may need to adjust their expectations on what "normal" looks like due to the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

If people return to their pre-pandemic lives and don't take proper precautions, 100,000 people in Japan could die from COVID-19 over the course of a year even if a 90% vaccination rate is reached, according to the study by a Kyoto University researcher.