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# System prepended metadata

title: 翻譯共筆：中國延遲發布病毒信息，使世衛組織感到挫折

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title: 翻譯共筆：中國延遲發布病毒信息，使世衛組織感到挫折
image: https://i.imgur.com/naUU41O.jpg
description: 美聯社根據數十場訪問與內部文件指出，中國其實拖了一週以上才公布序列，且中國發佈資訊的延遲也令世衛官員挫折。
---

# 翻譯共筆：中國延遲發布病毒信息，使世衛組織感到挫折

美聯社根據數十場訪問與內部文件指出，中國其實拖了一週以上才公布序列，且中國發佈資訊的延遲也令世衛官員挫折。

本翻譯由Google translate生成。歡迎大家一起動手修正為信達雅的翻譯，成果將以CC0授權釋出。

[原文網址](https://apnews.com/3c061794970661042b18d5aeaaed9fae)

## 協作方式

請點選右上角筆狀符號即可進入編輯介面。

![](https://i.imgur.com/LnQxxZv.png)


## 貢獻者

* 雨蒼

## 全文翻譯

China delayed releasing coronavirus info, frustrating WHO

中國推遲發布冠狀病毒信息，使世衛組織感到沮喪

By The Associated Press

美聯社

![](https://i.imgur.com/naUU41O.jpg)

Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus. It repeatedly thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately,” and said its work and commitment to transparency were “very impressive, and beyond words.”

在整個一月份，世界衛生組織公開稱讚中國對新的冠狀病毒的迅速反應。它反复感謝中國政府「立即」分享了該病毒的基因圖譜，並表示其工作和對透明性的承諾「非常令人印象深刻，而且言之鑿鑿」。

But behind the scenes, it was a much different story, one of significant delays by China and considerable frustration among WHO officials over not getting the information they needed to fight the spread of the deadly virus, The Associated Press has found.

但在幕後，情況卻大不相同，美聯社發現，這是中國的重大拖延和世衛組織官員因未能獲得他們所需的信息以對抗致命病毒傳播而感到沮喪。

Despite the plaudits, China in fact sat on releasing the genetic map, or genome, of the virus for more than a week after three different government labs had fully decoded the information. Tight controls on information and competition within the Chinese public health system were to blame, according to dozens of interviews and internal documents.

儘管有許多讚揚，但實際上中國在三個不同的政府實驗室對信息進行了完全解碼之後，就已經發布了該病毒的基因圖譜或基因組達一個多星期。數十次採訪和內部文件顯示，應嚴格控制中國公共衛生系統中的信息和競爭。

Chinese government labs only released the genome after another lab published it ahead of authorities on a virologist website on Jan. 11. Even then, China stalled for at least two weeks more on providing WHO with detailed data on patients and cases, according to recordings of internal meetings held by the U.N. health agency through January — all at a time when the outbreak arguably might have been dramatically slowed.

1月11日，中國政府實驗室僅在另一家實驗室在病毒學家網站上將其發布之前，才發布了該基因組。即使如此，根據向世界衛生組織提供的有關患者和病例的詳細數據，中國仍拖延了至少兩週時間。聯合國衛生機構在1月份之前舉行的內部會議-可以說爆發的時間可能已經大大減慢了。

![](https://i.imgur.com/kJGKPtP.jpg)

> WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus speaks during a news conference in Geneva in March. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
>
> 世衛組織總幹事特德羅斯·格布雷耶蘇斯（Tedros Ghebreyesus）在3月於日內瓦舉行的新聞發布會上發表講話。 （Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone通過AP）

WHO officials were lauding China in public because they wanted to coax more information out of the government, the recordings obtained by the AP suggest. Privately, they complained in meetings the week of Jan. 6 that China was not sharing enough data to assess how effectively the virus spread between people or what risk it posed to the rest of the world, costing valuable time.

美聯社獲得的錄音顯示，世衛組織官員公開稱讚中國，因為他們想從政府那裡騙取更多信息。私下里，他們在1月6日當週的會議上抱怨說，中國沒有共享足夠的數據來評估這種病毒在人與人之間的傳播效率或對世界其他地方的風險，從而浪費了寶貴的時間。

“We’re going on very minimal information,” said American epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, now WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, in one internal meeting. “It’s clearly not enough for you to do proper planning.”

美國流行病學家瑪麗亞·範·科霍夫（Maria Van Kerkhove）現在是世衛組織COVID-19的技術負責人，他在一次內部會議上說：「我們所獲得的信息很少。」 「少到無法做出適當的計劃。」

The story behind the early response to the virus comes at a time when the U.N. health agency is under siege, and has agreed to an independent probe of how the pandemic was handled globally. After repeatedly praising the Chinese response early on, U.S. President Donald Trump has blasted WHO in recent weeks for allegedly colluding with China to hide the extent of the coronavirus crisis. He cut ties with the organization on Friday, jeopardizing the approximately $450 million the U.S. gives every year as WHO’s biggest single donor.

對這種病毒的早期反應背後的故事發生在聯合國衛生機構遭到圍困之時，並且已經同意對全球如何應對這種流行病進行獨立調查。美國總統唐納德·特朗普（Donald Trump）早前多次讚揚中國的回應，最近幾週抨擊了世衛組織，原因是據稱與中國勾結以掩蓋冠狀病毒危機的程度。他在周五與該組織終止合作關係，影響了美國作為世衛組織最大的單一捐助國所提供的每年約4.5億美元資金。

In the meantime, Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to pitch in $2 billion over the next two years to fight the coronavirus, saying China has always provided information to WHO and the world “in a most timely fashion.”

同時，中國國家主席習近平誓言在未來兩年內投入20億美元與冠狀病毒作鬥爭，稱中國一直「以最及時的方式」向世衛組織和世界提供信息。

The new information does not support the narrative of either the U.S. or China, but instead portrays an agency now stuck in the middle that was urgently trying to solicit more data despite limited authority. Although international law obliges countries to report information to WHO that could have an impact on public health, the U.N. agency has no enforcement powers and cannot independently investigate epidemics within countries. Instead, it must rely on the cooperation of member states.

新消息不支持美國或中國的敘述，而是描繪了一個陷入困境的機構，儘管權限有限，該機構仍在緊急尋求更多數據。儘管國際法要求各國向世衛組織報告可能會對公共衛生產生影響的信息，但聯合國機構沒有執行權，也無法獨立調查國家內部的流行病。相反，它必須依靠成員國的合作。

![](https://i.imgur.com/25H9eKX.jpg)

> Dr. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization representative in China, during an interview at the WHO offices in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
> 
> 世界衛生組織駐中國代表高登·加利亞博士在世衛組織北京辦事處接受采訪時。 （美聯社照片/馬克·謝弗爾貝因）

The recordings suggest that rather than colluding with China, as Trump declared, WHO was itself kept in the dark as China gave it the minimal information required by law. However, the agency did try to portray China in the best light, likely as a means to secure more information. And WHO experts genuinely thought Chinese scientists had done “a very good job” in detecting and decoding the virus, despite the lack of transparency from Chinese officials.

錄音表明，不是像特朗普宣稱的那樣與中國勾結，世界衛生組織本身就處於黑暗之中，因為中國向其提供了法律要求的最少信息。但是，該機構確實試圖以最好的形象來描繪中國，這可能是一種獲取更多信息的手段。儘管中國官員缺乏透明度，但世衛組織專家確實認為中國科學家在檢測和解碼該病毒方面做得「非常出色」。

WHO staffers debated how to press China for gene sequences and detailed patient data without angering authorities, worried about losing access and getting Chinese scientists into trouble. Under international law, WHO is required to quickly share information and alerts with member countries about an evolving crisis. Galea noted WHO could not indulge China’s wish to sign off on information before telling other countries because “that is not respectful of our responsibilities.”

世衛組織的工作人員爭論著如何向中國施壓以獲取基因序列和詳細的患者數據，而又不會激怒當局，擔心失去獲取途徑和使中國科學家陷入困境的擔憂。根據國際法，世衛組織必須與會員國迅速分享有關不斷演變的危機的信息並向其發出警報。蓋莉亞（Galea）指出，世衛組織不能在告訴其他國家之前放任中國放棄信息的意願，因為「這不尊重我們的責任。」

In the second week of January, WHO’s chief of emergencies, Dr. Michael Ryan, told colleagues it was time to “shift gears” and apply more pressure on China, fearing a repeat of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that started in China in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

在1月的第二週，世衛組織緊急情況主任邁克爾·瑞安（Michael Ryan）博士告訴同事，現在是時候「換檔」並向中國施加更大的壓力了，因為擔心重症急性呼吸道綜合症從2000年開始在中國爆發。 2002年，全球有近800人喪生。

![](https://i.imgur.com/54E39Gq.jpg)

> Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies program, at a news conference in Geneva. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
> 
> 世界衛生組織緊急衛生計劃執行主任邁克爾·賴安在日內瓦的新聞發布會上。 （Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone通過AP）

“This is exactly the same scenario, endlessly trying to get updates from China about what was going on,” he said. “WHO barely got out of that one with its neck intact given the issues that arose around transparency in southern China.”

他說：「這是完全相同的情況，無休止地試圖從中國獲得最新情況。」 「鑑於中國南部地區出現的透明度問題，世衛組織勉強擺脫了瓶頸。」

Ryan said the best way to “protect China” from possible action by other countries was for WHO to do its own independent analysis with data from the Chinese government on whether the virus could easily spread between people. Ryan also noted that China was not cooperating in the same way some other countries had in the past.

賴安說，「保護中國」免受其他國家採取行動的最好方法是，世衛組織利用中國政府的數據進行獨立分析，確定該病毒是否易於在人與人之間傳播。賴安還指出，中國與其他國家過去的合作方式不同。

“This would not happen in Congo and did not happen in Congo and other places,” he said, probably referring to the Ebola outbreak that began there in 2018. “We need to see the data…..It’s absolutely important at this point.”

他說：「這不會在剛果發生，在剛果和其他地方也不會發生。」他可能指的是從2018年開始在埃博拉爆發的埃博拉病毒。「我們需要查看數據……。在這一點上，這絕對重要。 」

The delay in the release of the genome stalled the recognition of its spread to other countries, along with the global development of tests, drugs and vaccines. The lack of detailed patient data also made it harder to determine how quickly the virus was spreading — a critical question in stopping it.

基因組釋放的延遲延緩了其向其他國家的傳播以及測試，藥物和疫苗的全球發展的認識。缺乏詳細的患者數據也使確定病毒傳播的速度變得更加困難，這是阻止病毒傳播的關鍵問題。

Between the day the full genome was first decoded by a government lab on Jan. 2 and the day WHO declared a global emergency on Jan. 30, the outbreak spread by a factor of 100 to 200 times, according to retrospective infection data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus has now infected over 6 million people worldwide and killed more than 375,000.

根據中國人的回顧性感染數據，在1月2日政府實驗室首次對完整基因組進行解碼的當天至1月30日世界衛生組織宣布全球緊急情況的那一天之間，疫情蔓延了100到200倍。疾病預防控制中心。如今，該病毒已感染了全球600萬人，並殺死了375,000多人。

“It’s obvious that we could have saved more lives and avoided many, many deaths if China and the WHO had acted faster,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

華盛頓大學衛生計量與評估研究所教授阿里·莫克達德（Ali Mokdad）表示：「顯然，如果中國和世界衛生組織採取更快的行動，我們可以挽救更多生命，避免很多很多人死亡。」

However, Mokdad and other experts also noted that if WHO had been more confrontational with China, it could have triggered a far worse situation of not getting any information at all.

但是，莫克達德和其他專家也指出，如果世衛組織與中國更加對抗，那可能會引發更糟糕的情況，那就是根本無法獲得任何信息。

If WHO had pushed too hard, it could even have been kicked out of China, said Adam Kamradt-Scott, a global health professor at the University of Sydney. But he added that a delay of just a few days in releasing genetic sequences can be critical in an outbreak. And he noted that as Beijing’s lack of transparency becomes even clearer, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s continued defense of China is problematic.

悉尼大學全球衛生教授亞當·卡姆德拉特-斯科特（Adam Kamradt-Scott）說，如果世衛組織過分努力，甚至可能被趕出中國。但是他補充說，延遲了幾天發佈基因序列在疫情爆發期間也是至關重要的。他指出，隨著北京缺乏透明度變得更加明顯，世衛組織總幹事特德羅斯·阿德諾姆·吉布里亞索斯繼續為中國辯護是有問題的。

“It’s definitely damaged WHO’s credibility,” said Kamradt-Scott. “Did he go too far? I think the evidence on that is clear….it has led to so many questions about the relationship between China and WHO. It is perhaps a cautionary tale.”

Kamradt-Scott說：「這肯定損害了WHO的信譽。」 「他走得太遠了嗎？我認為這方面的證據很明確……這已經引發了許多關於中國與世界衛生組織之間關係的疑問。也許這是一個警示性的故事。」

WHO and its officials named in this story declined to answer questions asked by The Associated Press without audio or written transcripts of the recorded meetings, which the AP was unable to supply to protect its sources.

世衛組織及其在此故事中提到的官員拒絕回答美聯社提出的問題，但沒有錄音會議的錄音或錄音筆錄，美聯社無法提供這些信息來保護其消息來源。

“Our leadership and staff have worked night and day in compliance with the organization’s rules and regulations to support and share information with all Member States equally, and engage in frank and forthright conversations with governments at all levels,” a WHO statement said.

世衛組織在一份聲明中說：「我們的領導層和工作人員已按照組織的規章制度晝夜工作，以平等地支持和與所有會員國共享信息，並與各級政府進行坦率和坦率的對話。」

China’s National Health Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no comment. But in the past few months, China has repeatedly defended its actions, and many other countries — including the U.S. — have responded to the virus with even longer delays of weeks and even months.

中國國家衛生委員會和外交部對此未發表評論。但是在過去的幾個月中，中國一再為自己的行動辯護，包括美國在內的許多其他國家對這種病毒的反應甚至延遲了數週甚至數月。

“Since the beginning of the outbreak, we have been continuously sharing information on the epidemic with the WHO and the international community in an open, transparent and responsible manner,” said Liu Mingzhu, an official with the National Health Commission’s International Department, at a press conference on May 15.

「自疫情爆發以來，我們一直在以公開，透明和負責任的方式與世衛組織和國際社會共享有關流行病的信息，」國家衛生委員會國際部官員劉明珠在一次採訪中說。 5月15日的新聞發布會。

___________

___________

The race to find the genetic map of the virus started in late December, according to the story that unfolds in interviews, documents and the WHO recordings. That’s when doctors in Wuhan noticed mysterious clusters of patients with fevers and breathing problems who weren’t improving with standard flu treatment. Seeking answers, they sent test samples from patients to commercial labs.

根據採訪，文件和WHO記錄中展現的故事，尋找病毒遺傳圖譜的競賽始於12月下旬。那時，武漢的醫生注意到神秘的一群發燒和呼吸困難的患者，而標準流感治療並沒有改善這些患者。為了尋求答案，他們將患者的測試樣品發送到了商業實驗室。

By Dec. 27, one lab, Vision Medicals, had pieced together most of the genome of a new coronavirus with striking similarities to SARS. Vision Medicals shared its data with Wuhan officials and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, as reported first by Chinese finance publication Caixin and independently confirmed by the AP.

到12月27日，一家名為Vision Medicals的實驗室已經將一種新的冠狀病毒的大部分基因組拼湊在一起，其與SARS具有驚人的相似性。據中國金融出版物《財新》首次報導，並由美聯社獨立確認，Vision Medicals與武漢官員和中國醫學科學院共享其數據。

On Dec. 30, Wuhan health officials issued internal notices warning of the unusual pneumonia, which leaked on social media. That evening, Shi Zhengli, a coronavirus expert at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who is famous for having traced the SARS virus to a bat cave, was alerted to the new disease, according to an interview with Scientific American. Shi took the first train from a conference in Shanghai back to Wuhan.

12月30日，武漢市衛生官員發佈內部通知，警告不尋常的肺炎，並在社交媒體上洩露。據《科學美國人》（Scientific American）採訪，當晚，武漢病毒學研究所冠狀病毒專家史正利因將SARS病毒追踪到蝙蝠洞而聞名。師乘上海會議上的第一趟火車回到武漢。

![](https://i.imgur.com/j7vNdv6.jpg)

> Shi Zhengli works with other researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Chinatopix via AP)
> 
> 史正立在武漢病毒研究所的實驗室與其他研究人員合作。 （通過AP的Chinatopix）

The next day, Chinese CDC director Gao Fu dispatched a team of experts to Wuhan. Also on Dec. 31, WHO first learned about the cases from an open-source platform that scouts for intelligence on outbreaks, emergencies chief Ryan has said.

第二天，中國疾病預防控制中心主任高福派出了一個專家組前往武漢。緊急情況負責人瑞安（Ryan）說，也是在12月31日，世衛組織首先從一個開源平台上了解了這些病例，該平台對爆發的情報進行了偵察。

WHO officially requested more information on Jan. 1. Under international law, members have 24 to 48 hours to respond, and China reported two days later that there were 44 cases and no deaths.

世衛組織於1月1日正式要求提供更多信息。根據國際法，會員有24至48小時的回覆時間，而中國在兩天后報告有44例病例，沒有死亡。

By Jan. 2, Shi had decoded the entire genome of the virus, according to a notice later posted on her institute’s website.

根據後來在其研究所網站上發布的一條通知，到1月2日，Shi已解碼出該病毒的整個基因組。

Scientists agree that Chinese scientists detected and sequenced the then-unknown pathogen with astonishing speed, in a testimony to China’s vastly improved technical capabilities since SARS, during which a WHO-led group of scientists took months to identify the virus. This time, Chinese virologists proved within days that it was a never-before-seen coronavirus. Tedros would later say Beijing set “a new standard for outbreak response.”

科學家們一致認為，中國科學家以驚人的速度發現並測序了當時未知的病原體，證明了自SARS以來中國技術能力的大大提高，在此期間，由世衛組織領導的一組科學家花費了數月的時間來鑑定該病毒。這次，中國病毒學家在幾天之內證明了它是前所未有的冠狀病毒。特德羅斯（Tedros）稍後會說，北京設定了「應對疫情的新標準」。

But when it came to sharing the information with the world, things began to go awry.

但是，當要與世界共享信息時，事情就變得糟透了。

On Jan. 3, the National Health Commission issued a confidential notice ordering labs with the virus to either destroy their samples or send them to designated institutes for safekeeping. The notice, first reported by Caixin and seen by the AP, forbade labs from publishing about the virus without government authorization. The order barred Shi’s lab from publishing the genetic sequence or warning of the potential danger.

1月3日，中國國家衛生委員會（National Health Commission）發布了一份機密通知，命令實驗室中攜帶該病毒的樣品銷毀或將其送到指定機構進行保管。該通知由財新網首先報導，並由美聯社發現，禁止實驗室未經政府授權發布有關該病毒的信息。該命令禁止施氏的實驗室發表遺傳序列或警告潛在危險。

Chinese law states that research institutes cannot conduct experiments on potentially dangerous new viruses without approval from top health authorities. Although the law is intended to keep experiments safe, it gives top health officials wide-ranging powers over what lower-level labs can or cannot do.

中國法律規定，未經高級衛生主管部門批准，科研機構不得對具有潛在危險的新病毒進行實驗。儘管該法律旨在確保實驗安全，但它賦予高級衛生官員關於下級實驗室可以做什麼或不能做什麼的廣泛權力。

“If the virologist community had operated with more autonomy….the public would have been informed of the lethal risk of the new virus much earlier,” said Edward Gu, a professor at Zhejiang University, and Li Lantian, a PhD student at Northwestern University, in a paper published in March analyzing the outbreak.

「如果病毒學家社區具有更大的自主權…………公眾早就可以知道這種新病毒的致命危險，」浙江大學教授古德華和西北大學博士生李蘭田說，在三月份發表的一篇分析疫情的論文中。

Commission officials later repeated that they were trying to ensure lab safety, and had tasked four separate government labs with identifying the genome at the same time to get accurate, consistent results.

國家衛生委員會官員後來重申，他們正在努力確保實驗室安全，並責成四個獨立的政府實驗室同時鑑定基因組，以獲得準確，一致的結果。

By Jan. 3, the Chinese CDC had independently sequenced the virus, according to internal data seen by the Associated Press. And by just after midnight on Jan. 5, a third designated government lab, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, had decoded the sequence and submitted a report — pulling all-nighters to get results in record time, according to a state media interview.

根據美聯社的內部數據，到1月3日，中國疾病預防控制中心已經對該病毒進行了獨立測序。根據官方媒體的採訪，在1月5日午夜之後，第三個指定的政府實驗室，中國醫學科學院對序列進行了解碼，並提交了一份報告-吸引所有通宵人員以創紀錄的時間獲得結果。

Yet even with full sequences decoded by three state labs independently, Chinese health officials remained silent. The WHO reported on Twitter that investigations were under way into an unusual cluster of pneumonia cases with no deaths in Wuhan, and said it would share “more details as we have them.”

然而，即使完整的序列被三個國家實驗室獨立解碼，中國衛生官員仍然保持沉默。世衛組織在推特上報導說，正在對武漢地區一例沒有死亡的肺炎病例進行調查，並表示將「共享更多細節」。

Meanwhile, at the Chinese CDC, gaps in coronavirus expertise proved a problem.

同時，在中國疾病預防控制中心，冠狀病毒專業知識的差距被證明是一個問題。

For nearly two weeks, Wuhan reported no new infections, as officials censored doctors who warned of suspicious cases. Meanwhile, researchers found the new coronavirus used a distinct spike protein to bind itself to human cells. The unusual protein and the lack of new cases lulled some Chinese CDC researchers into thinking the virus didn’t easily spread between humans — like the coronavirus that casues Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, according to an employee who declined to be identified out of fear of retribution.

在近兩個星期的時間裡，武漢沒有報告新的感染，因為官員們對警告可疑病例的醫生進行了審查。同時，研究人員發現，新的冠狀病毒使用獨特的刺突蛋白將自身結合至人類細胞。一位因害怕報應不願透露姓名的員工表示，這種異常的蛋白質和缺乏新病例使一些中國疾病預防控制中心的研究人員認為這種病毒不容易在人與人之間傳播，例如引起中東呼吸系統綜合症的冠狀病毒或MERS。

Li, the coronavirus expert, said he immediately suspected the pathogen was infectious when he spotted a leaked copy of a sequencing report in a group chat on a SARS-like coronavirus. But the Chinese CDC team working on the genetic sequence lacked molecular specialists and failed to consult with outside scientists, Li said. Chinese health authorities rebuffed offers of assistance from foreign experts, including Hong Kong scientists barred from a fact-finding mission to Wuhan and an American professor at a university in China.

冠狀病毒專家李說，當他在SARS狀冠狀病毒的小組聊天中發現測序報告的洩露副本時，立即懷疑病原體具有傳染性。李說，中國疾病預防控制中心的基因序列研究團隊缺乏分子專家，也無法與外部科學家進行磋商。中國衛生當局拒絕了外國專家的幫助，其中包括禁止前往武漢進行事實調查的香港科學家和中國大學的美國教授。

On Jan. 5, the Shanghai Public Clinical Health Center, led by famed virologist Zhang Yongzhen, was the latest to sequence the virus. He submitted it to the GenBank database, where it sat awaiting review, and notified the National Health Commission. He warned them that the new virus was similar to SARS and likely infectious.

5
“It should be contagious through respiratory passages,” the center said in an internal notice seen by the AP. “We recommend taking preventative measures in public areas.”

美聯社看到該中心的內部通知中說：「它應該通過呼吸道傳染。」 「我們建議在公共場所採取預防措施。」

On the same day, WHO said that based on preliminary information from China, there was no evidence of significant transmission between humans, and did not recommend any specific measures for travelers.

世衛組織當天表示，根據中國的初步信息，尚無證據表明人與人之間存在重大傳播，也未建議針對旅行者的任何具體措施。

The next day, the Chinese CDC raised its emergency level to the second highest. Staffers proceeded to isolate the virus, draft lab testing guidelines, and design test kits. But the agency did not have the authority to issue public warnings, and the heightened emergency level was kept secret even from many of its own staff.

第二天，中國疾病預防控制中心將緊急狀態提高到第二高的水平。人員開始隔離病毒，起草了實驗室測試指南，並設計了測試套件。但是，該機構無權發佈公共警告，而且即使對許多員工來說，緊急情況的嚴重程度也一直保密。

By Jan. 7, another team at Wuhan University had sequenced the pathogen and found it matched Shi’s, making Shi certain they had identified a novel coronavirus. But Chinese CDC experts said they didn’t trust Shi’s findings and needed to verify her data before she could publish, according to three people familiar with the matter. Both the National Health Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology, which oversees Shi’s lab, declined to make Shi available for an interview.

到1月7日，武漢大學的另一個團隊對病原體進行了測序，發現它與Shi的病菌相符，這使Shi確信他們已經鑑定出一種新型冠狀病毒。但據三名知情人士說，中國疾病預防控制中心專家表示，他們不相信史的發現，需要在她發表之前先核實她的數據。國家衛生委員會和監督施氏實驗室的科學技術部均拒絕讓施氏接受采訪。

A major factor behind the gag order, some say, was that Chinese CDC researchers wanted to publish their papers first. “They wanted to take all the credit,” said Li Yize, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

有人說，堵嘴令背後的一個主要因素是中國疾病預防控制中心的研究人員希望首先發表論文。賓夕法尼亞大學的冠狀病毒研究人員李依澤說：「他們希望得到所有榮譽。」

Internally, the leadership of the Chinese CDC is plagued with fierce competition, six people familiar with the system explained. They said the agency has long promoted staff based on how many papers they can publish in prestigious journals, making scientists reluctant to share data.

六位熟悉該系統的人士解釋說，在內部，中國疾控中心的領導層面臨著激烈的競爭。他們說，該機構長期以來一直根據可以在著名期刊上發表論文的數量來提拔員工，這使科學家們不願分享數據。

As the days went by, even some of the Chinese CDC’s own staff began to wonder why it was taking so long for authorities to identify the pathogen.

隨著時間的流逝，甚至連中國疾病預防控制中心自己的一些工作人員也開始想知道，為什麼當局要花這麼長時間來鑑定病原體。

“We were getting suspicious, since within one or two days you would get a sequencing result,” a lab technician said, declining to be identified for fear of retribution.

一名實驗室技術人員說：「我們開始懷疑，因為一兩天內應該就能有測序結果。」由於害怕報復，拒絕透露姓名。

___________

On Jan. 8, the Wall Street Journal reported that scientists had identified a new coronavirus in samples from pneumonia patients in Wuhan, pre-empting and embarrassing Chinese officials. The lab technician told the AP they first learned about the discovery of the virus from the Journal.

1月8日，《華爾街日報》報導說，科學家已經從武漢市肺炎患者的樣本中發現了一種新的冠狀病毒，這使中國官員措手不及並使他們感到尷尬。實驗室技術人員告訴美聯社，他們首先從《華爾街日報》上了解了該病毒的發現。

The article also embarrassed WHO officials. Dr. Tom Grein, chief of WHO’s acute events management team, said the agency looked “doubly, incredibly stupid.” Van Kerkhove, the American expert, acknowledged WHO was “already late” in announcing the new virus and told colleagues that it was critical to push China.

文章還使世衛組織官員感到尷尬。世衛組織急性事件管理小組負責人湯姆·格賴恩博士說，該機構看上去「令人懷疑，非常愚蠢」。美國專家範·科霍夫（Van Kerkhove）承認，世衛組織宣布這種新病毒「已經晚了」，並告訴同事們，推進中國至關重要。

![](https://i.imgur.com/Vek4wcU.jpg)

> Maria van Kerkhove, head of the Outbreak Investigation Task Force for the World Health Organization, at a news conference in Geneva. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
> 
> 世界衛生組織疫情調查工作隊負責人瑪麗亞·範·科霍夫在日內瓦的新聞發布會上說。 （軍事特雷西尼/基斯通通過AP）

Ryan, WHO’s chief of emergencies, was also upset at the dearth of information.

世衛組織緊急情況負責人瑞安（Ryan）也對信息匱乏感到不安。

“The fact is, we’re two to three weeks into an event, we don’t have a laboratory diagnosis, we don’t have an age, sex or geographic distribution, we don’t have an epi curve,” he complained, referring to the standard graphic of outbreaks scientists use to show how an epidemic is progressing.

他抱怨說：「事實是，我們距活動只有兩到三個星期，沒有實驗室診斷，沒有年齡，性別或地理分佈，沒有Epi曲線。」 ，指的是科學家用來展示疫情進展情況的標準爆發圖。

After the article, state media officially announced the discovery of the new coronavirus. But even then, Chinese health authorities did not release the genome, diagnostic tests, or detailed patient data that could hint at how infectious the disease was.

文章發表後，官方媒體正式宣布發現了新的冠狀病毒。但是即使到那時，中國衛生部門也沒有發布基因組，診斷測試或詳細的患者數據來暗示這種疾病的傳染性。

By that time, suspicious cases were already appearing across the region.

到那時，該地區已經出現了可疑案件。

On Jan. 8, Thai airport officers pulled aside a woman from Wuhan with a runny nose, sore throat, and high temperature. Chulalongkorn University professor Supaporn Wacharapluesadee’s team found the woman was infected with a new coronavirus, much like what Chinese officials had described. Supaporn partially figured out the genetic sequence by Jan. 9, reported it to the Thai government and spent the next day searching for matching sequences.

1月8日，泰國機場官員將武漢來的一名有流鼻涕，喉嚨痛和高溫症狀的婦女拖到一邊。朱拉隆功大學教授Supaporn Wacharapluesadee的研究小組發現，這名婦女感染了一種新的冠狀病毒，就像中國官員所說的一樣。 Supaporn於1月9日之前部分弄清了該基因序列，並將其報告給泰國政府，並於第二天花費了時間尋找匹配的序列。

But because Chinese authorities hadn’t published any sequences, she found nothing. She could not prove the Thai virus was the same one sickening people in Wuhan.

但是由於中國當局沒有公佈任何序列，她什麼也沒發現。她無法證明泰國病毒與武漢人一樣令人生病。

“It was kind of wait and see, when China will release the data, then we can compare,” said Supaporn.

Supaporn說：「這是一種等待，中國何時發布數據，然後我們可以進行比較。」

On Jan. 9, a 61-year-old man with the virus passed away in Wuhan — the first known death. The death wasn’t made public until Jan. 11.

1月9日，一名攜帶病毒的61歲男子在武漢去世，這是已知的第一例死亡。直到1月11日才公開宣布死亡。

WHO officials complained in internal meetings that they were making repeated requests for more data, especially to find out if the virus could spread efficiently between humans, but to no avail.

世衛組織官員在內部會議上抱怨說，他們一再要求提供更多數據，特別是為了查明該病毒是否可以在人與人之間有效傳播，但無濟於事。

“We have informally and formally been requesting more epidemiological information,” WHO’s China representative Galea said. “But when asked for specifics, we could get nothing.”

世衛組織中國代表加利婭說：「我們已經非正式地和正式地要求提供更多的流行病學信息。」 「但是當被要求提供細節時，我們什麼也得不到。」

Emergencies chief Ryan grumbled that since China was providing the minimal information required by international law, there was little WHO could do. But he also noted that last September, WHO had issued an unusual public rebuke of Tanzania for not providing enough details about a worrisome Ebola outbreak.

緊急情況負責人賴安（Ryan）抱怨說，由於中國提供的是國際法所要求的最少信息，世衛組織幾乎無能為力。但他還指出，去年9月，世衛組織對坦桑尼亞進行了一次不同尋常的公開譴責，原因是它沒有提供有關令人擔憂的埃博拉疫情的足夠詳細信息。

“We have to be consistent,” Ryan said. “The danger now is that despite our good intent...especially if something does happen, there will be a lot of finger-pointing at WHO.”

「我們必須保持一致，」瑞安說。 「現在的危險是，儘管我們有良好的意願……尤其是如果有事情發生，世衛組織將有很多指責。」

Ryan noted that China could make a “huge contribution” to the world by sharing the genetic material immediately, because otherwise “other countries will have to reinvent the wheel over the coming days.”

賴安指出，中國可以通過立即分享遺傳物質為世界做出「巨大貢獻」，因為否則「其他國家將在未來幾天內重新發明輪子」。

On Jan. 11, a team led by Zhang, from the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, finally published a sequence on virological.org, used by researchers to swap tips on pathogens. The move angered Chinese CDC officials, three people familiar with the matter said, and the next day, his laboratory was temporarily shuttered by health authorities.

1月11日，由上海公共衛生臨床中心的Zhang領導的研究小組最終在virologic.org上發布了一個序列，研究人員使用該序列交換病原體的技巧。三名知情人士說，此舉激怒了中國疾病預防控制中心官員。第二天，他的實驗室被衛生當局暫時關閉。

Zhang referred a request for comment to the Chinese CDC. The National Health Commission, which oversees the Chinese CDC, declined multiple times to make its officials available for interviews and did not answer questions about Zhang.

張向中國疾病預防控制中心提出了置評請求。監督中國疾病預防控制中心的國家衛生委員會多次拒絕讓其官員接受采訪，並且沒有回答有關張的問題。

Supaporn compared her sequence with Zhang’s and found it was a 100% match, confirming that the Thai patient was ill with the same virus detected in Wuhan. Another Thai lab got the same results. That day, Thailand informed the WHO, said Tanarak Plipat, deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control at Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.

Supaporn將她的序列與Zhang的序列進行了比較，發現這是100％的匹配，證實泰國患者患上了在武漢發現的相同病毒。另一個泰國實驗室也得到了相同的結果。泰國公共衛生部疾病控制局副局長塔納拉克·普利帕特（Tanarak Plipat）當天說，泰國已通知世界衛生組織。

After Zhang released the genome, the Chinese CDC, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences raced to publish their sequences, working overnight to review them, gather patient data, and send them to the National Health Commission for approval, according to documentation obtained by the AP. On Jan. 12, the three labs together finally published the sequences on GISAID, a platform for scientists to share genomic data.

張透露基因組後，中國疾病預防控制中心，武漢病毒研究所和中國醫學科學院競相公佈其序列，通宵工作以審查它們，收集患者數據，並將其送交國家衛生委員會批准。 AP獲得的文檔。 1月12日，這三個實驗室共同在GISAID上發布了這些序列，該平台是科學家共享基因組數據的平台。

![](https://i.imgur.com/M6UlZdK.jpg)

> A giant TV screen at a quiet shopping mall in Beijing shows President Xi Jinping talking to medical workers at the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan in March. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
> 
> 北京一家安靜的購物中心的大電視屏幕顯示，習近平主席今年三月在武漢霍神山醫院與醫務人員交談。 （美聯社照片/黃德華）

By then, more than two weeks had passed since Vision Medicals decoded a partial sequence, and more than a week since the three government labs had all obtained full sequences. Around 600 people were infected in that week, a roughly three-fold increase.

到那時，自Vision Medicals解碼了部分序列以來已經過去了兩個多星期，而自三個政府實驗室都獲得了完整序列以來已經過去了一個多星期。在那一周，大約有600人被感染，大約增加了三倍。

Some scientists say the wait was not unreasonable considering the difficulties in sequencing unknown pathogens, given accuracy is as important as speed. They point to the SARS outbreak in 2003 when some Chinese scientists initially — and wrongly — believed the source of the epidemic was chlamydia.

一些科學家表示，考慮到對未知病原體進行測序的困難，等待的時間並非不合理，因為準確性與速度一樣重要。他們指出，2003年SARS爆發，當時一些中國科學家最初-錯誤地-認為該流行病的來源是衣原體。

“The pressure is intense in an outbreak to make sure you’re right,” said Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealthAlliance in New York. “It’s actually worse to go out to go to the public with a story that’s wrong because the public completely lose confidence in the public health response.”

「 EcoHealthAlliance總裁」紐約州總統彼得·達扎克（Peter Daszak）說：「爆發時，要確保自己是對的，壓力很大。」 「出去走走，向公眾傳講錯誤的故事，實際上是更糟糕的，因為公眾對公眾健康的反應完全失去了信心。」

Still, others quietly question what happened behind the scenes.

仍然，其他人悄悄地質疑幕後發生了什麼。

Infectious diseases expert John Mackenzie, who served on a WHO emergency committee during the outbreak, praised the speed of Chinese researchers in sequencing the virus. But he said once central authorities got involved, detailed data trickled to a crawl.

爆發期間曾在世衛組織應急委員會中任職的傳染病專家約翰·麥肯齊（John Mackenzie）讚揚了中國研究人員對該病毒進行測序的速度。但是他說，一旦中央政府介入，詳細的數據就會被欺騙。

“There certainly was a kind of blank period,” Mackenzie said. “There had to be human to human transmission. You know, it’s staring at you in the face… I would have thought they would have been much more open at that stage.”

「當然有一段空白期，」麥肯齊說。 「必須存在人與人之間的傳播。你知道的，它盯著你的臉……我以為他們在那個階段會更加開放。」

_________________


On Jan. 13, WHO announced that Thailand had a confirmed case of the virus, jolting Chinese officials.

1月13日，世界衛生組織宣布泰國確診該病毒病例，震驚中國官員。

The next day, in a confidential teleconference, China’s top health official ordered the country to prepare for a pandemic, calling the outbreak the “most severe challenge since SARS in 2003”, as the AP previously reported. Chinese CDC staff across the country began screening, isolating, and testing for cases, turning up hundreds across the country.

正如美聯社先前報導的那樣，第二天，在一次秘密的電話會議中，中國最高衛生官員命令中國為大流行做準備，稱這次疫情是「自2003年SARS以來最嚴峻的挑戰」。全國各地的中國疾病預防控制中心工作人員開始篩查，隔離和測試病例，全國各地有數百名病例。

Yet even as the Chinese CDC internally declared a level one emergency, the highest level possible, Chinese officials still said the chance of sustained transmission between humans was low.

然而，即使中國疾病預防控制中心內部宣布發生一級緊急事件，也可能是最高級別的緊急事件，中國官員仍然表示，人與人之間持續傳播的可能性很小。

WHO went back and forth. Van Kerkhove said in a press briefing that “it is certainly possible there is limited human-to-human transmission.” But hours later, WHO seemed to backtrack, and tweeted that “preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission” – a statement that later became fodder for critics.

世衛組織來回走了。範·科霍夫（Van Kerkhove）在新聞發布會上說：「人與人之間的傳播肯定是有限的。」但是數小時後，世衛組織似乎退縮了，並在推特上寫道：「中國當局進行的初步調查未發現人與人之間傳播的明確證據」 –後來成為批評家的言論。

A high-ranking official in WHO’s Asia office, Dr. Liu Yunguo, who attended medical school in Wuhan, flew to Beijing to make direct, informal contacts with Chinese officials, recordings show. Liu’s former classmate, a Wuhan doctor, had alerted him that pneumonia patients were flooding the city’s hospitals, and Liu pushed for more experts to visit Wuhan, according to a public health expert familiar with the matter.

記錄顯示，世衛組織亞洲辦事處的高級官員劉云國博士曾在武漢醫學院學習，他飛往北京與中國官員進行了非正式的直接接觸。據一位熟悉此事的公共衛生專家說，劉的前同學是一名武漢醫生，曾警告他肺炎患者正充斥著該市的醫院，劉還敦促更多專家來武漢訪問。

On Jan. 20, the leader of an expert team returning from Wuhan, renowned government infectious diseases doctor Zhong Nanshan, declared publicly for the first time that the new virus was spreading between people. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the “timely publication of epidemic information and deepening of international cooperation.”

1月20日，由武漢歸國的專家組負責人，著名的政府傳染病醫生鐘南山首次公開宣布新病毒正在人際傳播。中國國家主席習近平呼籲「及時發布流行病信息和深化國際合作」。

![](https://i.imgur.com/k6vy2XE.jpg)

> Respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan attends an oath-taking ceremony via video connections for two new probationary Communist Party members in Wuhan. (Deng Hua/Xinhua via AP)
> 
> 呼吸專科醫生鐘南山通過視頻連接參加了在武漢舉行的兩個新的試用共產黨成員的宣誓儀式。 （通過美聯社的鄧華/新華社）

Despite that directive, WHO staff still struggled to obtain enough detailed patient data from China about the rapidly evolving outbreak. That same day, the U.N. health agency dispatched a small team to Wuhan for two days, including Galea, the WHO representative in China.

儘管有該指示，世衛組織工作人員仍在努力從中國獲得關於迅速發展的疫情的足夠詳細的患者數據。當天，聯合國衛生機構派遣了一個小隊前往武漢，為期兩天，其中包括世衛組織在中國的代表蓋莉亞。

They were told about a worrying cluster of cases among more than a dozen doctors and nurses. But they did not have “transmission trees” detailing how the cases were connected, nor a full understanding of how widely the virus was spreading and who was at risk.

他們被告知十幾名醫生和護士中的案件令人擔憂。但是他們沒有「傳播樹」來詳細說明案件之間的聯繫，也沒有全面了解病毒的傳播範圍和危險人群。

In an internal meeting, Galea said their Chinese counterparts were “talking openly and consistently” about human-to-human transmission, and that there was a debate about whether or not this was sustained. Galea reported to colleagues in Geneva and Manila that China’s key request to WHO was for help “in communicating this to the public, without causing panic.”

Galea在一次內部會議上表示，他們的中國同行正在「公開一致地談論人與人之間的傳播，」關於這種傳播是否持續存在爭論。加利亞向日內瓦和馬尼拉的同事報告說，中國對世衛組織的主要要求是尋求幫助，「在不引起恐慌的情況下向公眾宣傳」。

On Jan. 22, WHO convened an independent committee to determine whether to declare a global health emergency. After two inconclusive meetings where experts were split, they decided against it — even as Chinese officials ordered Wuhan sealed in the biggest quarantine in history. The next day, WHO chief Tedros publicly described the spread of the new coronavirus in China as “limited.”

1月22日，世衛組織召集了一個獨立委員會，以確定是否宣布全球緊急衛生事件。在兩次沒有專家討論的不確定性會議之後，他們決定反對這一提議，即使中國官員下令武漢封閉歷史上最大的隔離區。第二天，世衛組織負責人泰德羅斯（Tedros）公開形容新的冠狀病毒在中國的傳播是「有限的」。

For days, China didn’t release much detailed data, even as its case count exploded. Beijing city officials were alarmed enough to consider locking down the capital, according to a medical expert with direct knowledge of the matter.

幾天來，即使案件數量激增，中國也沒有發布太多詳細的數據。一位直接了解此事的醫學專家說，北京市官員震驚地警告要封鎖首都。

On Jan. 28, Tedros and top experts, including Ryan, made an extraordinary trip to Beijing to meet President Xi and other senior Chinese officials. It is highly unusual for WHO’s director-general to directly intervene in the practicalities of outbreak investigations. Tedros’ staffers had prepared a list of requests for information.

1月28日，特德羅斯（Tedros）和包括瑞安（Ryan）在內的頂尖專家非凡訪問北京，會見習主席和其他中國高級官員。世衛組織總幹事直接干預疫情調查的實用性是非常不尋常的。特德羅斯（Tedros）的工作人員已經準備了一份要求提供信息的清單。

“It could all happen and the floodgates open, or there’s no communication,” Grein said in an internal meeting while his boss was in Beijing. “We’ll see.”

「這一切都有可能發生，閘門打開，或者沒有任何溝通，」格雷因在他的老闆在北京的一次內部會議中說。 「走著瞧。」

At the end of Tedros’ trip, WHO announced China had agreed to accept an international team of experts. In a press briefing on Jan. 29, Tedros heaped praise on China, calling its level of commitment “incredible.”

在特德羅斯之行結束時，世衛組織宣布中國已同意接受一個國際專家團隊。在1月29日的新聞發布會上，特德羅斯（Tedros）對中國表示讚賞，稱其承諾水平「令人難以置信」。

The next day, WHO finally declared an international health emergency. Once again, Tedros thanked China, saying nothing about the earlier lack of cooperation.

第二天，世界衛生組織終於宣布發生國際衛生緊急情況。特德羅斯再次對中國表示感謝，對早先缺乏合作一無所知。

“We should have actually expressed our respect and gratitude to China for what it’s doing,” Tedros said. “It has already done incredible things to limit the transmission of the virus to other countries.”

特德羅斯說：「我們實際上應該對中國的所作所為表示敬意和感謝。」 「它已經做了不可思議的事情，以限制病毒向其他國家的傳播。」



