中國正試圖阻止一種致命的新病毒的傳播

中國正試圖阻止一種致命的新病毒的傳播

Governments around the world have always struggled to stop the spread of disease, from the deadly swine flu which struck the globe in 2009. to ongoing attempts to rein in Ebola in West Africa.

世界各國政府一直在努力阻止疾病的傳播，從2009年席卷全球的致命的豬流感到西非正在進行的遏制埃博拉的努力。

No health authority has ever tackled the challenge currently faced by China, however, as the country grapples with a new coronavirus just as hundreds of millions prepare to travel during the Lunar New Year period -- the largest annual human migration on Earth.

然而，中國目前面臨的挑戰(zhàn)還沒有一個衛(wèi)生部門能夠應(yīng)對。中國正在應(yīng)對一種新型冠狀病毒，而與此同時，數(shù)以億計的人正準備在農(nóng)歷新年期間出行——這是地球上規(guī)模最大的年度人類遷徙。

During the Lunar holiday, people from across the country will cram themselves into homebound trains, buses and planes for family reunions. Others will take advantage of the time off to holiday overseas. Last year, close to 7 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad for Lunar New Year, according to state media.

春節(jié)期間，全國各地的人們將擠上返鄉(xiāng)的火車、巴士和飛機，與家人團聚。其他人則會利用這段時間去海外度假。據(jù)官方媒體報道，去年春節(jié)期間，近700萬中國游客出國旅游。

The holiday -- the most important in the Chinese calendar -- comes at the worst possible time for health authorities racing to contain the outbreak which has put the rest of Asia on alert.

春節(jié)是中國農(nóng)歷中最重要的節(jié)日，對于急于控制疫情的衛(wèi)生部門來說，這可能是最糟糕的時機。

The virus, which was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, is known to have infected close to 300 people and spread to at least three other countries already. On Monday, China's National Health Commission confirmed that the Wuhan coronavirus can be passed from human-to-human and that medical staff had also been infected.

這種病毒最初是在中國中部城市武漢發(fā)現(xiàn)的，目前已知已經(jīng)感染了近300人，并已傳播到至少另外三個國家。周一，中國國家衛(wèi)生健康委員會證實，武漢的冠狀病毒可以在人與人之間傳播，醫(yī)護人員也受到了感染。

The disclosure followed news that South Korea had confirmed its first case, making it the third country outside of China to detect the virus. The three cases previously confirmed overseas, two in Thailand and one in Japan, all involved people who had visited Wuhan.

此前有消息稱，韓國已確診首例甲型h1n1流感病例，使其成為中國以外第三個發(fā)現(xiàn)該病毒的國家。先前在海外確診的3例，2例在泰國，1例在日本，均涉及曾到過武漢的人。

"One of the consequences of a more connected world is that outbreaks have the potential to spread internationally much more rapidly than was the case 50 years ago," said Mike Turner, director of science at the Wellcome Trust, a UK-based global health charity.

總部位于英國的全球衛(wèi)生慈善機構(gòu)惠康基金會的科學主任邁克•特納表示:“世界聯(lián)系更加緊密的后果之一是，與50年前相比，疫情有可能以更快的速度在國際上傳播。”

More cases have also been reported within China, evidence that the outbreak has spread well beyond Wuhan, creating a risk of unpredictable further infection.

中國境內(nèi)也報告了更多病例，這表明疫情已經(jīng)蔓延到武漢以外的地方，造成了無法預(yù)測的進一步感染的風險。

As of Tuesday morning, five cases have been confirmed in Beijing, two in Shanghai, and 14 in the southern province of Guangdong -- all hundreds of miles from Wuhan. Additional suspected cases have been reported across the country, from eastern Shandong province to Sichuan province in the southwest.

截至周二上午，北京已確診5例，上海確診2例，廣東省確診14例，均距武漢數(shù)百英里。從東部的山東省到西南部的四川省，全國各地都報告了疑似病例。

Chinese scientists on January 8 identified the pathogen as a new strain of coronavirus, the same family as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In 2002 and 2003. SARS infected more than 8.000 people and killed 774 in a pandemic that ripped through Asia, spreading as far as Canada.

1月8日，中國科學家確認該病原體為一種新型冠狀病毒，與SARS同屬一個科。在2002年和2003年，SARS感染了8000多人，導(dǎo)致774人死亡。

During a news conference Monday, Zhong Nanshan, a Chinese government-appointed expert who helped discover the SARS coronavirus, said the infectiousness of the new Wuhan coronavirus was not as strong as SARS, but that the disease was "climbing" and suggested that the "death rate at the moment is not so representative." Since December, four people infected with the Wuhan coronavirus have died.

在星期一的新聞發(fā)布會上，中國政府指定的幫助發(fā)現(xiàn)非典型肺炎冠狀病毒的專家鐘南山說，新的武漢冠狀病毒的傳染性沒有非典那么強，但疾病正在“攀升”，并暗示“目前的死亡率沒有那么有代表性”。自去年12月以來，已有四名感染武漢冠狀病毒的人死亡。

Uncertainties about the Wuhan coronavirus -- including its unidentified source -- have prompted fears there may be more people infected than currently reported.

關(guān)于武漢冠狀病毒的不確定性(包括其來源不明)引發(fā)了人們對感染人數(shù)可能比目前報道的更多的擔憂。