President Moon Jae-in expects the promotion of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(KCDC) to agency status will further enhance the country's globally praised infectious disease response and health care.

This comes as the Cabinet on Tuesday approved elevation of the KCDC and separating it from the Health Ministry to become the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) as of Saturday.

During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Moon called on the new agency to boost the country’s infectious disease response and stabilize the COVID-19 epidemic.

Referring to the promotion of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research into a national institute and the establishment of regional disease response centers, the president called for a quarantine capacity that allowed proactive responses to other diseases in the future.

He also took note of the introduction of a second vice health minister specializing in health care, saying the new post will help strengthen the country's public health capacity and resolve the recent reform dispute with the medical community.