Contrary to the health authorities’ earlier claims that the Middle East respiratory syndrome was not highly contagious and thus poses little threat to the general public, the respiratory disease, since it was diagnosed on May 20 in a 68-year-old man who had returned from the Middle East, has claimed two lives and infected 24 others, including two who died. More than 680 people who were directly or indirectly exposed to the virus remain in quarantine and that number is likely to rise as more cases are confirmed.

The 58-year-old woman who died of acute respiratory failure on Monday had been treated as a suspected MERS patient and her tests later came back positive for the MERS virus. The 71-year-old man who died on Tuesday was confirmed to have the virus a few days ago.

A single person infected with MERS was not supposed to have caused this much havoc in the public health system. It was the government’s rather lackadaisical response to the disease in the early days of its detection that has contributed to the escalating problem.

In insisting that MERS was not highly contagious, the health authorities did not vigorously investigate people who may have come into contact with the first patient. The daughter of a patient who shared a hospital room with the first patient and became infected was refused a test because her temperature was still below 38 degrees Celsius. It was only when she was later diagnosed with the virus that the guideline for testing was revised to test those presenting a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius.

In an embarrassing lapse, the son of a MERS patient was allowed to board a plane for Hong Kong, despite having symptoms of MERS. He is now being treated in China, after having exposed fellow airplane and bus passengers to the virus.

The government said that it would crack down on groundless social media rumors concerning MERS. If the government has the wherewithal to investigate social media rumors, its time would be better spent disseminating accurate information about the disease. Rumors are flying about because there is a demand for information that is not being met by the authorities. Instead of clamping down on social media, the government should exploit it to spread information about the illness, which is causing fear because so little is known about it.

Had the first doctor who examined the first patient asked about his travel history, the infection could have been better controlled. In hindsight, there are many things that should have been done to contain the spread. Now, the government must do its utmost to prevent further infections and at the same time calm the public panic by supplying the necessary information.