Senior diplomats of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Tuesday to discuss joint efforts to fight the new coronavirus, the foreign ministry said, as Seoul's anti-virus efforts have led to a drop in new infections and a low fatality rate.

First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young and US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun discussed the global containment efforts and their countries' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that has sickened thousands of citizens and disrupted daily life in both countries.

Cho called for Washington's support for President Moon Jae-in's recent proposal to hold a special teleconference among the leaders of the Group of 20 nations to beef up international cooperation in tackling the coronavirus scourge.

Cho also explained that despite the slowdown in new infections, Seoul has been pushing for aggressive containment efforts to prevent community transmission and block any potential inflow of the virus from overseas.

Biegun expressed his confidence in Seoul's containment efforts and extended his gratitude for Seoul's sharing of information about its quarantine programs, while voicing hope for closer cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, the ministry said in a press release.

On Tuesday morning, South Korea reported 84 new cases, up from 74 new cases a day earlier, bringing the nation's total infections to 8,320. The country's death toll reached 81, an increase of six people from the previous day.

News reports said the caseload in the US has topped 4,000, with more than 70 fatalities.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams has praised South Korea as a model for fighting the coronavirus.

"We have a choice to make as a nation. Do we want to go the direction of South Korea and really be aggressive and lower our mortality rates or do we want to go the direction of Italy?" he asked in an interview on Fox News.

Italy is the worst-hit country outside of China, with at least 27,980 cases and 2,158 deaths.

"And when you look at the projections there's every chance that we could be Italy," Adams continued. "But there's every hope that we will be South Korea if people actually listen, if people actually social distance, if people do the basic public health measures that we've all been talking about as doctors all along, such as washing your hands, such as covering your cough, and cleaning surfaces."