世衛組織宣佈新冠肺炎爲全球性流行病大綱

世界衛生組織總幹事譚德塞在3月11日的記者會上宣佈，世衛組織經過疫情評估後認爲新冠肺炎已構成“全球性流行病”，但這次大流行與以往任何一次都不同，是可以控制的。全世界應當一起努力，保持冷靜，採取恰當措施，保護人民安全。

The world is now in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic, the director general of the World Health Organization has said, as he expressed deep concern about “alarming levels of inaction” in the fight against the spread of the disease.

世界衛生組織總幹事譚德塞表示，新冠肺炎已構成“全球性流行病”。他對在抗擊新冠肺炎傳播方面“令人震驚的不作爲”深表關注。

In the past two weeks, the number of cases outside China has increased 13-fold, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the number of affected countries has tripled. There are 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 people have lost their lives.

譚德塞博士說，過去兩週，中國以外的病例數量增加了13倍，受影響國家和地區的數量增至三倍。全球114個國家和地區的確診病例達到11.8萬，4291人因此喪生。

“Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospital,” Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the many cases, the many deaths and the number of affected countries climb even higher.

譚德塞在日內瓦的一次新聞發佈會上說：“還有數千人在醫院裏苦苦求生。在未來的幾天和幾周內，我們預計確診病例、死亡病例和受影響國家和地區數量都會增加。”

"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

“世衛組織一直在不間斷地評估新冠肺炎疫情，我們對令人震驚的擴散和嚴重程度以及不作爲深感關切。”

We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

“因此，我們經過疫情評估後認爲新冠肺炎已成爲大流行。”

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.

“‘大流行’一詞不應隨便使用。如果濫用，會導致無端的恐慌，或者不合理地接受‘抗疫戰鬥已結束’，導致不必要的痛苦和死亡。”

Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.

“將新冠肺炎疫情稱爲大流行並不會改變世衛組織對新冠病毒構成的威脅的評估。它不會改變世衛組織的措施，也不會改變各國應採取的措施。”

We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

“我們以前從未見過冠狀病毒引發的大流行病，這還是第一次。”

And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time."

“同時，我們以前也從未見過一場可以得到控制的大流行病。”

As the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) explains on its website, “an epidemic occurs when an infectious disease spreads rapidly to many people.” Usually, what precedes an epidemic is an outbreak, or “a sudden rise in the number of cases of a disease.” An outbreak can affect a single community or several countries, but it’s on a much smaller scale than an epidemic.

感染控制和流行病學專業人員協會在網站上解釋道：“當一種傳染性疾病迅速傳播給許多人時，就被稱爲epidemic。”通常，epidemic發生之前會有outbreak（疾病暴發），即“某種疾病案例的突然增加”。Outbreak可能影響到單個社區或幾個國家，但規模比epidemic小得多。

If an epidemic can’t be contained and keeps expanding its reach, public health officials might start calling it a pandemic, which means it’s affected enough people in different areas of the world to be considered a global outbreak. In short, a pandemic is a worldwide epidemic. It infects more people, causes more deaths, and can also have widespread social and economic repercussions.

如果一場epidemic不能被控制住，還在不斷蔓延，公共衛生官員可能就要開始稱之爲pandemic，意思是這場流行病已經影響到世界不同地區足夠多的人，到了全球性暴發的程度。簡而言之，pandemic就是全球性的流行病。Pandemic感染的人更多，導致的死亡人數更多，還可能對社會和經濟造成廣泛的影響。

This pandemic was unlike any others in that it could be controlled, he said. The experience in China and South Korea, where the numbers of cases are falling, showed it was possible to turn things around. But many countries were not doing what was necessary.

譚德塞說，這次大流行病與以往任何一次都不同，是可以控制的。中國和韓國的經驗表明，疫情是有可能扭轉的，這兩個國家的病例數量正在下降。但許多國家沒有采取必要的措施。

“We have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action. We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear,” he said.

他說：“我們每天都呼籲各國積極採取緊急行動。我們已經響亮而明確地敲響了警鐘。”

Ghebreyesus was keen to stress that it was not too late to control the outbreak. The majority of cases – 90% of the 118,000 – are in just four countries: Italy, Iran, South Korea and China. “All countries can still change the course of this pandemic,” he said. He called on all countries to detect, test, treat, isolate, track contacts and mobilise their people in response to the pandemic.

譚德塞特別強調指出，現在控制疫情還爲時不晚。在11.8萬確診病例中，90%的病例發生在四個國家：意大利、伊朗、韓國和中國。他說：“所有國家仍然可以改變疫情進程。”他呼籲所有國家排查、檢測、治療、隔離、追蹤密切接觸者並動員本國人民應對疫情。

“Some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity, some countries are struggling with a lack of resources, some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve,” he said.

他說：“一些國家在努力應對能力不足的問題，一些國家在努力應對資源匱乏的問題，還有一些國家在努力應對缺乏決心的問題。”

Asked which countries were failing to do enough, he and WHO’s director of emergencies, Dr Michael Ryan, refused to be specific. “You know who you are,” said Ryan. The WHO would not criticise its member states in public. But, he said, it was not enough to limit testing to small numbers of people who fitted risk criteria that might be out of date – people over a certain age with a history of travel to China, for instance.

當被問及哪些國家做得不夠時，他和世衛組織應急行動司司長邁克爾·瑞安博士拒絕詳細說明。瑞安說：“這些國家自己很清楚。”世界衛生組織不會公開批評其成員國。但他表示，將檢測侷限於一小部分符合風險標準的人是不夠的，比如，超過一定年齡、有過中國旅行史的人等這些標準可能已經過時了。

Some countries had not established sufficient capacity for isolating people, he said. Other countries were too willing to give up on contact tracing too soon, which could help slow the spread. Some countries were not communicating well with their people, giving them the information they need to keep themselves and others safe.

他說，一些國家還沒有足夠的能力實施隔離措施。還有些國家總想過早放棄追蹤密切接觸者，而追蹤密切接觸者有助於減緩傳播。一些國家沒有很好地與本國民衆進行溝通，向他們提供所需信息，以保證其自身和他人的安全。

The WHO warning came as the death toll from the virus in Italy rose by 31% in 24 hours to 827, and the government there began considering imposing even tighter restrictions on daily life and announced billions of euros in financial relief to cushion against the economic shock.

世衛組織發出警告之際，意大利新冠肺炎死亡病例在24小時內增加了31%，達到827人，該國政府開始考慮對日常生活施加更嚴格的限制，並宣佈了數十億歐元的財政救助，以緩解經濟受到的衝擊。

cushion [ˈkʊʃn]： vt.緩和…的衝擊

In Iran, by far the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, the senior vice-president and two other cabinet ministers were reported to have been diagnosed with Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus.

到目前爲止，伊朗是中東地區疫情最嚴重的國家。據報道，伊朗第一副總統和另外兩名內閣成員已確診感染了由新冠病毒引起的新冠肺炎。