Two individuals in South Korea have died from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, the country's health authorities confirmed on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported.

The cases marked only the second time the virus has caused fatalities in Asia since a man succumbed to it in Malaysia in April 2014.

The revelation caused widespread alarm across the region: Chinese state media noted that hundreds of people had canceled trips to South Korea, and authorities in Thailand and Vietnam said they were reinforcing the monitoring of inbound passengers at airports.

Seoul has registered 24 cases of the disease since diagnosing the country's first MERS illness last month, the Associated Press detailed.

The first patient affected was a man who had traveled to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, and the remaining cases have largely been linked to him. These include medical staff who treated the man and patients who stayed near him at the hospital, as well as family members of those individuals.

Health officials said on Tuesday that about 750 people were isolated at their homes or in state-run facilities, because they were presumed to have been in contact with patients infected with the virus, the newswire noted. That figure could rise, and many of the isolated individuals could be banned from leaving the country, authorities warned.

Health Minister Moon Hyung-Pyo, meanwhile, urged a common effort when it comes to tackling the outbreak of the deadly virus, according to AFP.

"Those who are quarantined must be experiencing a lot of inconvenience in their daily lives," Moon said, "but please closely cooperate for the safety of yourself, your families and your neighbors."

However, officials have been criticized for not naming the hospitals where people have been treated, a decision that has led to widespread speculation, Reuters noted.

Objections have been raised not just in South Korea but across the region. In Hong Kong, Ko Wing-man, the special administrative region's secretary for food and health, voiced his discontent over Seoul's information policy.

"We're finding it difficult to obtain suitable and sufficient information from South Korean authorities, for example, finding out which medical institutions are involved," Ko noted.