The status of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be elevated this week to a state agency overseeing the country's infectious disease response.

The new agency will be called the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA).

Revisions to related laws were approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, under which the organization will be separated from the Health Ministry with autonomy in infectious disease policy making and enforcement as of this coming Saturday. 

The new agency's workforce will expand from the current 907 to one-thousand-476, with about two-thirds of the increased personnel to be newly employed.

The KDCA will establish a 24-hour infectious disease situation room, a position that collects and analyzes data, a department handling vaccine supply and a post in charge of responding to diseases with unknown causes.

Additionally, the Center for Infectious Diseases Research will be expanded into a new national research institute, and five regional KDCA centers will also be set up to assist localities in responding systematically to infectious diseases.

In a bid to enhance specialization, the position of second vice minister in charge of medical and health care will be established at the Health Ministry.