Story highlights Officials say two MERS patients have died in South Korea

MERS is a deadly respiratory virus that has had many cases in Saudi Arabia

(CNN) Two MERS patients have died in South Korea, marking the first deaths from an outbreak of the dreaded respiratory virus in the country, officials said.

The victims included a 58-year-old woman and a 71-year-old man who both had contact with the country's first MERS patient, South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

So far, there have been 25 confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome in South Korea, including the two dead patients.

Officials are recommending the government temporarily ban people exposed to MERS from leaving the country to prevent the virus from spreading, said Kwon Jun-wook, a Health Ministry official.

During a Cabinet meeting Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said there had been "some insufficiency" in her country's initial response to the virus and called for an "all-out" response to halt the spread of the disease.

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