South Korean Health Minister Park Neung-hoo held phone talks with his U.S. counterpart on Monday to share Seoul's quarantine efforts in the fight against the novel coronavirus. 

Seoul's Health Ministry said that the phone call was arranged at the request of U.S. Health Secretary Alex M. Azar.

It said Park and Azar discussed testing procedures and management of people who have come in contact with patients, as well as recent cases in South Korea where people have retested positive for COVID-19.

Minister Park reportedly stressed the importance of early detection given the highly infectious nature of the virus, while noting that the real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) testing method is accurate and reliable.

Park also explained to Azar how South Korea set up a system to conduct epidemiological surveys and utilized information technology and big data.  

The ministry said Secretary Azar thanked Park for sharing South Korea's experience and said he hoped the two nations continue discussions and collaboration based on the foundation of the strong alliance and partnership between Seoul and Washington.