Puerto Rico announced Thursday that bars and nightclubs will be able to reopen their doors for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, after registering a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Those and other places, including party buses, will only be able to operate at 50% capacity, said the island's governor Pedro Pierluisi.

He pointed out that those people who are vaccinated will no longer have to wear masks in open spaces, although they are still mandatory to enter any type of business.

"We are close to normalcy," Pierluisi said. "You cannot yet claim victory," he said.

The new measures will be in effect from June 7 to July 4. They were announced weeks after authorities lifted a curfew that had been in effect for more than a year.

The island, which has 3.3 million inhabitants, has reported more than 138,000 confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus and more than 2,500 deaths from the disease. About half of Puerto Rico's population is fully vaccinated, and Pierluisi expects the US territory to achieve herd immunity within a couple of months.