The Seoul Metropolitan Government will strengthen its capability to counter various types of infectious diseases that may occur in the future such as the novel coronavirus.

Seoul City said Saturday it will conduct an organizational reshuffle involving public health-related departments once the current coronavirus outbreak is believed to be entering a conclusive stage.

The key to the plan is setting up an epidemiological survey office and an infectious disease research center.

To this goal, Seoul is looking into foreign precedents such as when New York City set up similar organizations in responding to the influenza and the Ebola outbreak.

The survey office will be more than just increasing the number of inspectors, currently five, but will also aim to enhance expertise.

The research center will study ways on how local authorities can best respond to the spread of the contagious disease through information gathering and analysis from home and abroad.