韩国将排查所有入院肺炎患者控制MERS疫情

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said on Tuesday that it would investigate all hospitalized pneumonia patients to determine whether they had been exposed to Middle East respiratory syndrome, as it struggled to contain an outbreak of the virus that has infected 95 people in the country and killed seven.

韩国首尔——韩国周二表示，将对所有入院治疗的肺炎患者进行排查，以确定他们是否曾接触中东呼吸综合征（Middle East Respiratory Syndrome，简称MERS）。目前，韩国正在艰难地控制MERS疫情，这里已有95人受到感染，7人丧生。

The outbreak of the virus, known as MERS, in South Korea is the largest reported outside Saudi Arabia, where more than 440 people have died of the disease since it was discovered there in 2012. MERS symptoms are similar to those of pneumonia.

据报道，除沙特阿拉伯以外，MERS疫情在韩国最为严重。自2012年在沙特发现这种疾病以来，该国已有逾440人死于MERS。这种疾病的症状与肺炎类似。

Although a vast majority of MERS patients in South Korea were infected in two hospitals, cases have also been found in seven other hospitals in Seoul, the capital, and elsewhere.

尽管韩国的绝大多数MERS患者是在两家医院受到感染的，但是首都首尔的另外七家医院及其他一些地方，也发现了MERS病例。

Nearly 2,900 people who had been near any of the confirmed cases had been isolated as of Tuesday, to be monitored for symptoms by the government. More than 2,200 schools remained closed.

截至周二，曾与确诊病例有过较密切接触的近2900人被隔离，接受政府对他们进行的观察，看是否会出现相关症状。有2200多所学校处于停课状态。

The government said that on Wednesday it would interview all hospitalized pneumonia patients and also check their medical records to see if they had recently visited any of the hospitals where the infection had been found. South Korea’s first MERS case, a 68-year-old man who had traveled to Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries, was discovered to have the virus on May 20.

韩国政府表示将于周三对所有入院治疗的肺炎患者进行询问，并检查他们的医疗记录，看是否曾于近期前往发现感染病例的医院。韩国的首名MERS患者是一名68岁的男子，曾去往沙特阿拉伯及多个邻国。5月20日，他被发现携带这种病毒。

Interviewing pneumonia patients is intended “to find any suspected case we have missed and to prevent a further spread of the virus,” the Health Ministry said in a statement. “Once we find a suspected patient, we will move him into a one-bed room and run a DNA test to determine if he carries the MERS virus.”

走访肺炎患者是为了“发现我们漏掉的任何疑似病例，阻止病毒进一步传播”，韩国卫生部发表声明称。“一旦发现疑似患者，我们会将他转移至单人病房，并通过DNA测试来判定他是否携带MERS病毒。”

The government announced the plan after acknowledging it had failed to isolate some suspected cases soon enough. On Tuesday, four new MERS cases were found in three hospitals that had not been on the government list of infected hospitals.

在宣布上述计划之前，政府承认自己没能尽快隔离一些疑似病患。周二，在三家并未列在政府之前公布的感染名单上的医院中，发现了四例新的MERS病例。

On Tuesday, Hong Kong issued a “red alert” travel warning for South Korea, while the World Health Organization began work on a joint mission with South Korean doctors and officials to assess the outbreak in the country and review the government response.

周二，香港发布了针对韩国的“红色”外游警示，世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)则开始与韩国医疗人员和官员一起开展联合行动，以评估该国的疫情，并审核政府的应对举措。

The travel alert “advises Hong Kong residents to avoid nonessential travel to Korea, including leisure travel,” the Hong Kong government said in a statement. It advised those already in South Korea to “avoid unnecessary visits to health care facilities.”

香港政府的声明称，旅游警示“建议市民，如非必要，避免前赴韩国，包括前往当地旅游”。政府还建议身在当地的港人“尽量避免到访当地的医疗机构”。

Hong Kong has been sensitive to infectious diseases since the outbreak of SARS in 2003, which killed hundreds of people.

自2003年爆发严重急性呼吸综合征(SARS)疫情并导致数百人死亡以来，香港对传染性疾病一直比较敏感。

Also on Tuesday, the airline Cathay Pacific, which is based in Hong Kong, and its subsidiary, Dragonair, said they would waive fees for people to rebook travel to South Korea from Hong Kong, given the travel alert.

同样在周二，总部位于香港的国泰航空及其子公司港龙航空宣布，鉴于旅游警示，它们将免除乘客更改从香港到韩国的机票所需的费用。