英國：學校9月開學 將實施“氣泡”隔離

英國教育大臣近日表示，英國的學生們在9月開始的新學年將按照年級和班級分成“氣泡”，課程和活動時間各不相同，以避免感染新冠病毒。但相關人士表示，這種“氣泡”隔離實施難度極大。

School pupils in England will be grouped into "bubbles" when the new academic year starts in September, with mass activities such as assemblies discouraged under new regulations announced by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on Thursday.

按照英國教育大臣加文·威廉姆森本週四（7月2日）宣佈的新規定，新學年9月開始時，英國的學生將被分成不同的“氣泡”組，並且不鼓勵學生集會等羣體活動。

He revealed the plan to Parliament and then expanded on it in the first Downing Street media conference called since daily briefings on the novel coronavirus outbreak were abandoned.

他向議會透露了這一計劃，並在英國政府召開的媒體會議上進行了詳細闡述。這是關於新冠疫情的每日簡報會被取消後英國政府召開的第一次媒體會議。

Schools were shut down in March. Currently around 1.6 million of the country's 9 million school-age children are back in the classroom, but the government says a proper return in September is "critical to our national recovery" and attendance will be compulsory.

英國的學校在3月份停課。目前，全英900萬學齡兒童中大約有160萬復課，但政府表示，9月份重返校園“對英國的復甦至關重要”，學校將實行強制返校制度。

Social distancing will not be applied in schools, and masks will not be worn, but instead so-called bubbles, based on avoiding contact between individual classes or year groups, will be deployed. This will mean separate start and finish times, and also different times for lunch and playtime.

學校不會要求師生們保持社交距離，也不會要求師生們戴口罩，取而代之的是所謂的“氣泡”，旨在避免每個班級或年級之間的接觸。這意味着不同班級的課程和活動開始及結束時間不同，午餐和娛樂時間也不同。

Pupils will be discouraged from using public transport, which could bring many other challenges. Mobile testing units will be sent to schools which have an outbreak, and schools will have testing kits to give parents if required, but if there are two confirmed cases in 14 days, potentially the whole school could be shut down.

學校不鼓勵學生乘坐公共交通工具，這可能會帶來許多其他挑戰。流動檢測設備將被送往暴發疫情的學校，如果有需要，學校將爲家長提供檢測包，但如果14天內出現兩例確診病例，整個學校可能會關閉。

London streets were very quiet during lockdown. Simon Dawson / REUTERS

"I want to reassure parents and families that we are doing everything we can to make sure schools, nurseries, colleges and other providers are as safe as possible for children and staff, and will continue to work closely with the country's best scientific and medical experts to ensure that is the case," said Williamson.

威廉姆森說：“我想向父母和家庭保證，我們正竭盡所能，確保學校、託兒所、高校和其他供應商對孩子們和教職員工來說盡可能安全，並將繼續與英國最好的科學和醫學專家密切合作，來確保安全。”

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the Guardian newspaper that the practicalities of keeping groups apart would be "mind-boggling."

英國中學和學院領導人協會的祕書長傑夫·巴頓告訴《衛報》，將不同羣體隔離開來的可行性“匪夷所思”。

mind-boggling [ˈmaɪnd bɑːɡlɪŋ]：adj.令人難以置信的；令人驚異的

"It will be immediately apparent to anyone reading this guidance that it is enormously challenging to implement," he said. "The logistics of keeping apart many different 'bubbles' of children in a full school, including whole-year groups comprising hundreds of pupils, is mind-boggling."

他說：“任何閱讀這一指南的人都會立刻明白，這些措施實施起來極具挑戰性。在一所包含初中部的學校裏，要把許多不同‘氣泡’的孩子們分開，包括數百名學生組成的各個年級，其後勤工作的難度令人難以想象。”

Meanwhile, before the much-anticipated next stage of easing lockdown in England takes place this weekend, the number of COVID-19 cases has risen in 36 local authorities across England.

英格蘭民衆正熱切期待本週末開始的下一階段解封舉措，而在此之前，英格蘭36個地區的新冠肺炎病例數量已經上升。

Easing measures have already had to be delayed in the East Midlands city of Leicester, but now other spikes in infection rate are being reported all across England.

在英國東密德蘭的萊斯特市，放鬆措施已經被推遲，據報道，如今英格蘭多地的感染率均出現上升。

The areas with the largest increases are Knowsley and Bolton, both in the North West of the country, and the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In Knowsley, close to the city of Liverpool, the rate of infection rose from 6 people out of every 100,000 to 20.

病例增長最快的地區是英格蘭西北大區的諾斯利和博爾頓，以及倫敦的哈默史密斯和富勒姆區。在利物浦附近的諾斯利，感染率從每10萬人中6人感染上升到20人。

The arts sector in Britain continues to feel the effects of the pandemic, with the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton announcing its closure after 60 years. Other theaters in Plymouth, Manchester and Norwich have already announced mass redundancies as anger grows over a perceived lack of government support for the culture sector.

英國的藝術領域繼續受到疫情的影響，南安普敦的納菲爾德劇院在成立60年後宣佈關閉。普利茅斯、曼徹斯特和諾里奇的其他劇院已經宣佈大規模裁員，人們爲政府對文化領域的支持不夠感到憤怒。

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says face coverings will be compulsory in shops from July 9 as the country continues its progress out of lockdown, and the 2-meter social distancing rule could also be eased.

蘇格蘭首席部長尼古拉·斯特金表示，自7月9日起，隨着英國逐步解除封鎖，以及2米的社交距離規定也可能會放寬，商店將強制要求人們戴口罩。

Although the 2-meter rule has already been changed in England to 1 meter plus, the initial advice was kept in Scotland while scientific studies were carried out.

雖然在英格蘭，2米的社交距離規則已經改成了1米多，但在相關科學研究有結果之前，蘇格蘭仍要求保持2米的社交距離。

Sturgeon said that "as the distance between people decreases, the risk of transmitting the virus increases", and that overall, the "general advice will remain unchanged" but because of the economic impact of applying that across all situations, a 1-meter rule would be applied to "specific sectors" where other safety measures could also be deployed.

斯特金說：“人們之間的社交距離減少，傳播病毒的風險就會增加”，從總體上看，“普遍建議將保持不變”。但由於在所有場合實施這一措施對經濟的影響，在“特定行業中”，將實行保持1米社交距離的措施，也可以同時實施其他安全措施。

The 2-meter rule is also to be scrapped for children under the age of 12 when mixing with other households.

12歲以下兒童與其他家庭的成員在一起時，保持2米社交距離的規定也將取消。

As from next week, dozens of countries look set to be exempt from the United Kingdom's travel quarantine measures as the government's initial mass restrictions are largely repealed.

從下週開始，隨着政府最初的大規模限制措施大量被廢除，英國或將免除幾十個國家入境旅客的檢疫要求。