新冠疫情不再构成国际关注的突发公共卫生事件

2023年5月5日，世界卫生组织宣布，新冠疫情不再构成“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”。

🤔️小作业：

A) The disease is no longer a threat.

B) The disease still kills someone every three minutes.

C) The emergency status has been reinstated.

D) The disease has been eradicated completely.

A. It signals the end of the pandemic worldwide.

B. It indicates that Covid-19 no longer poses a global health emergency.

C. It confirms the effectiveness of vaccines and treatments against Covid-19.

D. It suggests that Covid-19 has been eradicated in most countries.

无注释原文：

Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, says WHO

From: The Guardian

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has sickened or killed almost 800 million people over three years, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

The WHO first gave Covid its highest level of alert on 30 January 2020, and its panel has continued to apply the label at meetings held every three months.

While the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday the UN health agency was downgrading Covid's alert status, he also delivered a stark warning about its persistent threat. The disease still killed someone every three minutes, he said.

“Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern,” said Tedros. “I've accepted that advice.”

He added: “It's therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat. Last week, Covid-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that's just the deaths we know about.”

The global health emergency status helped focus international attention on the Covid threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments. Lifting it is a sign of the progress the world has made in these areas, but Covid-19 is here to stay, health officials believe, even if it no longer represents an emergency.

The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for Covid in March 2020. Tedros said the decision to downgrade the alert status did not mean the danger was over, cautioning that the emergency status could be reinstated if the situation changed.

“The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said.

Covid has officially claimed more than 6.9 million lives, and affected the health of more than 765 million others, according to the WHO. It said the true figures were likely to be much higher. Covid deaths globally have plunged by 95% since January, but the disease still killed 16,000 people worldwide last month alone.

Despite the lingering danger, the pandemic has faded from mind in many if not most countries. This week, Tedros said testing and tracing efforts had “declined significantly around the world, making it more difficult to track known variants and detect new ones”.

He has also warned of the ongoing impact of long Covid, which provokes a long line of often severe and debilitating symptoms that can drag on for months or years. The condition is estimated to affect one in 10 people who contract Covid, suggesting hundreds of millions of people could need longer-term care, he has said.

Long Covid was devastating lives and livelihoods and wreaking havoc on health systems and economies, Tedros told the Guardian last year as he urged countries to launch immediate and sustained efforts to tackle the “very serious” crisis.

“While the pandemic has changed dramatically due to the introduction of many lifesaving tools, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, the impact of long Covid for all countries is very serious and needs immediate and sustained action equivalent to its scale,” he said.

He added: “Early in the pandemic, it was important for overwhelmed health systems to focus all of their life saving efforts on Covid-19 patients presenting with acute infection. However, it is critical for governments to invest long-term in their health system and workers and make a plan now for dealing with long Covid.”

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, says WHO

From: The Guardian

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has sickened almost 800 million people over three years, no longer constitutes a global health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

世界卫生组织总干事表示，新冠疫情不再构成“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”，三年来近8亿人感染了新冠病毒。

除了表示“组成”，等同于make up，还可以表示“构成，被视为，被算作”，英文解释为“If something constitutes a particular thing, it can be regarded as being that thing.”，如：constitute a professional and legal offence 构成职业和法律犯罪；举个🌰：Failing to complete the work constitutes a breach of the employment contract. 不能完成工作被视为违反雇用合同。The rise in crime constitutes a threat to society. 犯罪率上升对社会构成了威胁。

🎬电影《空中危机》（Flightplan）中的台词提到：A teddy bear does not constitute an inaccurate passenger manifest. 有一只泰迪熊并不代表 乘客名单出了错。

🎬电影《从足球流氓到黑帮崛起3》（Rise of the Footsoldier 3）中的台词提到：High on drink and pills does not constitute as a defense. 醉药 醉酒 不能作为辩护证据。

The WHO first gave Covid its highest level of alert on 30 January 2020, and its panel has continued to apply the label at meetings held every three months.

自2020年1月30日以来，世卫组织一直将新冠病毒列为最高警戒级别，并且其专家组在季度会议上持续使用该标签。

表示“（选定的）专家小组；讨论小组”，英文解释为“a small group of people chosen to give advice, make a decision, or publicly discuss their opinions as entertainment”。

While the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday the UN health agency was downgrading Covid's alert status, he also delivered a stark warning about its persistent threat. The disease still killed someone every three minutes, he said.

世卫组织总干事谭德塞周五宣布，该联合国卫生机构将降低新冠病毒的警戒级别，但他也对其持续的威胁发出了严厉警告。他说，每三分钟仍有一人因新冠死亡。

表示“（大型机构的）总裁，主席；署长；局长；（尤指公共机构的）总管”，英文解释为“the person who is in charge of a big organization”。

downgrade表示“（使）降级；（使）降职；贬低；轻视”，英文解释为“to reduce someone or something to a lower rank or position, or to cause something to be considered less important or valuable”举个🌰：My job's been downgraded to that of ordinary editor. 我已经被降为普通编辑了。

区分：

📍degrade作动词，表示“降低…身份；侮辱…的人格；使受屈辱”，英文解释为：to show or treat sb in a way that makes them seem not worth any respect or not worth taking seriously，举个🌰：This poster is offensive and degrades women. 这张海报冒失无礼，有辱女性尊严。

📍degrade还可以表示“降解，自然分解”，英文解释为“(of a substance) to change into a more simple chemical structure”

1）表示“（对比）明显的，鲜明的”，英文解释为“If two things are in stark contrast to one another, they are very different from each other in a way that is very obvious.”如：stark differences 鲜明的区别，举个🌰：The good weather was in stark contrast to the storms of previous weeks. 这时的好天气和前几个星期的暴风雨形成鲜明的对比。

2）表示“严酷的；赤裸裸的；真实而无法回避的”，英文解释为“unpleasant; real, and impossible to avoid”。

1）表示“持续的；存留的；顽强存在的”，英文解释为“lasting for a long time or difficult to get rid of”举个🌰：Symptoms of the illness include a high temperature and a persistent dry cough. 病症包括高烧和持久的干咳。

2）表示“坚持不懈的；执意的”，英文解释为“Someone who is persistent continues doing something or tries to do something in a determined but often unreasonable way.”举个🌰：Be persistent - don't give up. 要坚持不懈——别放弃。

“Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern,” said Tedros. “I've accepted that advice.”

“昨天，突发事件委员会举行了第15次会议，并建议我宣布这一国际关注的公共卫生紧急状态结束，”谭德塞说。“我接受了这个建议。”

表示“推荐，介绍；建议”，英文解释为“to suggest that someone or something would be good or suitable for a particular job or purpose, or to suggest that a particular action should be done”举个🌰：I can recommend the chicken in mushroom sauce - it's delicious. 我可以向您推荐蘑菇汁鸡肉——这道菜非常可口。

He added: “It's therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency. However, that does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat. Last week, Covid-19 claimed a life every three minutes – and that's just the deaths we know about.”

他补充说：“因此，我满怀希望地宣布新冠疫情不再构成国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。然而，这并不意味着新冠病毒不再是全球公共卫生威胁。上周，新冠病毒每三分钟夺去一条生命——而这只是我们所知道的死亡人数。”

1）表示“获得；赢得；取得”，英文解释为“to gain, win or achieve sth”举个🌰：She has finally claimed a place on the team. 她终于成了那支队的队员。

2）表示“声称；宣称；断言；主张”，英文解释为“to say that something is true or is a fact, although you cannot prove it and other people might not believe it”举个🌰：The company claims (that) it is not responsible for the pollution in the river. 公司声称对该河流污染没有责任。

3）表示“夺走，夺去（生命）”，英文解释为“to cause sb's death”举个🌰：The car crash claimed three lives. 那次撞车事故导致三人死亡。

📍通常用 claim sb's life 表示“要了…的命；夺去…的生命”，英文解释为“If a violent event, fighting, or a disease claims someone's life, it kills that person.”

The global health emergency status helped focus international attention on the Covid threat, as well as bolstering collaboration on vaccines and treatments. Lifting it is a sign of the progress the world has made in these areas, but Covid-19 is here to stay, health officials believe, even if it no longer represents an emergency.

全球公共卫生紧急状态有助于将国际关注重点放在新冠病毒的威胁上，并加强疫苗和治疗方法的合作。结束这一状态是全球在这些领域取得进展的标志，但卫生官员认为，即使新冠病毒不再构成紧急状态，它仍将存在。

表示“支撑；加固；提高；改善；加强”，英文解释为“to improve sth or make it stronger”，如：to bolster sb's confidence/courage/morale 增加某人的信心/勇气/士气，举个🌰：Hopes of an early cut in interest rates bolstered confidence. 提前降低利率的希望增强了信心。

🎬电影《塞尔拉·伯格斯是废柴》（Sierra Burgess Is a Loser）中的台词提到：I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to bolster my resume. 想问问 对提升我的简历你有没有什么意见？

1）早在2020年「武汉解封」冬已尽，春来兮！文中CNN的标题「China lifts 76-day lockdown on Wuhan as city reemerges from coronavirus crisis」就有提到有提到lift ... lockdown，lift作动词，表示「解除，撤销，停止」，英文解释为：to remove or end restrictions，如：to lift a ban 解除禁令。

2）表示“举起，提起，抬起，吊起”，英文解释为“to move something from a lower to a higher position”举个🌰：Could you help me lift this table, please? 你能帮我抬一下桌子吗？

3）表示“偷盗；剽窃”，英文解释为“to use someone else's writing, music, or idea, pretending that it is your own”举个🌰：He'd lifted whole passages from a website. 他从网站上整段整段地剽窃文章。

The WHO does not declare the beginning or end of pandemics, although it did start using the term for Covid in March 2020. Tedros said the decision to downgrade the alert status did not mean the danger was over, cautioning that the emergency status could be reinstated if the situation changed.

世卫组织没有宣布疫情的开始或结束，尽管它确实在2020年3月开始使用Covid一词表示新冠病毒。谭德塞表示，降低警戒级别的决定并不意味着危险已经过去，他警告称，如果情况发生变化，可能会恢复紧急状态。

作名词，表示“谨慎，小心，慎重”，英文解释为“great care and attention”举个🌰：We need to proceed with/exercise caution (= be careful in taking action, making decisions, etc.) 我们必须谨慎行事。

作动词，表示“告诫，提醒”，英文解释为“to warn someone”举个🌰：The newspaper cautioned its readers against buying shares without getting good advice first. 报纸告诫读者事先没有获得好的建议，不要购买股票。

表示“使重返岗位，使恢复原职；把…放回原处；使恢复原状”，英文解释为“to give someone back their previous job or position, or to cause something to exist again”举个🌰：A month after being unfairly dismissed, he was reinstated in his job. 在被不公正解职1个月后，他又重新返回工作岗位。

“The worst thing any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built, or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said.

他说：“现在任何国家都不应该把这个消息作为放松警惕、拆除已建立的系统或者向民众传递新冠病毒无需担忧的信息的理由。”

表示“拆除，逐步废除”，英文解释为“To dismantle an organization or system means to cause it to stop functioning by gradually reducing its power or purpose.”举个🌰：Public services of all kinds are being dismantled. 各种公共服务正被逐步废除。

🎬电影《弯伦》（Machete）中的台词提到：We need to uncover and dismantle this network. 我们必须揭露并且除掉这个网络。

Covid has officially claimed more than 6.9 million lives, and affected the health of more than 765 million others, according to the WHO. It said the true figures were likely to be much higher. Covid deaths globally have plunged by 95% since January, but the disease still killed 16,000 people worldwide last month alone.

据世卫组织官方公布，新冠病毒已夺走了超过690万人的生命，并影响了超过7.65亿人的健康。世卫组织表示，真实数字可能要高得多。自1月份以来，全球新冠病毒死亡人数已下降了95%，但上个月仍有16000人因该病毒而死亡。

可以作动词，也可以作名词，表示“骤降”，英文解释为“If an amount or rate plunges, it decreases quickly and suddenly.”举个例子：His weight began to plunge. 他的体重开始骤然下降。（动词）Japan's banks are in trouble because of bad loans and the stock market plunge. 日本各家银行处于困境，缘于不良贷款以及股市的暴跌。（名词）

📍2020年4月瑞幸咖啡怎么了？文中就提到了CNN的标题China's Luckin Coffee plunges 75% on accounting probe用的是plunge一词，表示股价暴跌。

类似的表达「暴跌」的词有：plummet，tank，sink，slump，...

📍slump表示“（价值等）暴跌”，英文解释为“If something such as the value of something slumps, it falls suddenly and by a large amount.”举个🌰：Net profits slumped by 25%. 净利润暴跌了25%。

📍plummet /ˈplʌmɪt/ 表示“（数量、比率、价格）暴跌”，英文解释为“If an amount, rate, or price plummets, it decreases quickly by a large amount.”举个🌰：Her spirits plummeted at the thought of meeting him again. 一想到又要见到他，她的心情便直往下沉。

📍tank，熟词僻义，作名词是坦克的意思，作动词有“表现得很糟糕，快速减少，衰落，下跌”的含义，英文解释为“If something such as a stock price or a movie tanks, it performs very badly, for example because it loses a lot of money.”举个🌰：Tech stocks have tanked. 科技股票暴跌了。

Despite the lingering danger, the pandemic has faded from mind in many if not most countries. This week, Tedros said testing and tracing efforts had “declined significantly around the world, making it more difficult to track known variants and detect new ones”.

尽管危险挥之不去，但在许多（如果不是大多数的话）国家，新冠疫情已经淡出了人们的视野。本周，谭德塞表示，检测和追踪工作“在全球范围内大幅下降，这使得追踪已知毒株和检测新毒株更加困难”。

lingering /ˈlɪŋ.ɡər.ɪŋ/ 表示“持续的，长时间的；拖延的；缠绵的；缓慢消失的；迟迟不去的”，英文解释为“slow to end or disappear ”如：a last lingering look 依依不舍的最后一瞥。举个🌰：She says she stopped seeing him, but I still have lingering doubts. 她说她已经不再和他见面了，但我依然心存疑虑。

linger 作动词，1）表示“（想法、感觉、疾病）继续存留”，英文解释为“When something such as an idea, feeling, or illness lingers, it continues to exist for a long time, often much longer than expected.”举个🌰：The scent of her perfume lingered on in the room. 她的香水味在房间里久久不散。

2）表示“继续逗留”，英文解释为“If you linger somewhere, you stay there for a longer time than is necessary, for example, because you are enjoying yourself.”举个🌰：Customers are welcome to linger over coffee until around midnight. 顾客们可以慢慢品味咖啡到午夜。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述疫情下的生活成本的文章中提到：For as long as fears of viral contagion linger, many businesses could struggle to attract new custom, 只要对病毒蔓延的恐惧未消，许多企业可能很难吸引到新客户。

fade /feɪd/ 1）表示“（使）褪色；（使）变暗；（使）衰弱”，英文解释为“to (cause to) lose colour, brightness, or strength gradually”举个🌰：If you hang your clothes out in the bright sun, they will fade. 衣服挂在光线强的地方晾晒会褪色。

2）表示“逐渐消逝；逐渐消失”，英文解释为“to disappear gradually”举个🌰：Her smile faded. 她的笑容逐渐消失。

表示“变体；变种；变形”，英文解释为“A variant of a particular thing is something that has a different form from that thing, although it is related to it.”举个🌰：The quagga was a strikingly beautiful variant of the zebra. 白氏斑马是一种极其美丽的斑马变种。

He has also warned of the ongoing impact of long Covid, which provokes a long line of often severe and debilitating symptoms that can drag on for months or years. The condition is estimated to affect one in 10 people who contract Covid, suggesting hundreds of millions of people could need longer-term care, he has said.

他还警告称，长新冠的持续影响会引发一系列往往严重且使人虚弱的症状，这种情况可能会持续数月或数年。他说，据估计，约有10%的新冠病毒感染者会有长新冠症状，这意味着数亿人可能需要长期护理。

表示“持续存在的；不断发展的；继续进行的；进行中的”，英文解释为“continuing to exist or develop, or happening at the present moment”如：an ongoing investigation/process/project 持续进行的调查/持续的过程/正在实施的工程。

1）表示“激起，引起”，英文解释为“to cause a reaction or feeling, especially a sudden one”，如：provoke debate/discussion 激起辩论/讨论。

2）表示“激怒，挑衅”，英文解释为“to make or try to make a person or an animal angry”举个🌰：It was a vicious-looking dog and I didn't want to provoke it. 那只狗看起来很凶，我可不想招惹它。

debilitating /dɪˈbɪl.ɪ.teɪ.tɪŋ/ 表示“使（人）虚弱的；使（事物）软弱的”，英文解释为“making someone or something physically weak”如：a debilitating condition/disease 令人衰弱的疾病。

Long Covid was devastating lives and livelihoods and wreaking havoc on health systems and economies, Tedros told the Guardian last year as he urged countries to launch immediate and sustained efforts to tackle the “very serious” crisis.

去年，谭德塞接受《卫报》采访时表示，长新冠症状正在摧毁生命和生计，对卫生系统和经济造成严重破坏，他敦促各国立即采取持续措施来应对这场“非常严重”的危机。

devastate /ˈdɛvəˌsteɪt/ 表示“严重破坏；彻底摧毁”，英文解释为“If something devastates an area or a place, it damages it very badly or destroys it totally.”举个🌰：The tsunami devastated parts of Indonesia and other countries in the region. 这次海啸严重破坏了印度尼西亚和该区域其他国家的部分地区。

wreak havoc 肆虐，造成严重破坏，wreak /riːk/ 表示“造成（混乱或严重破坏）”，英文解释为“Something or someone that wreaks havoc or destruction causes a great amount of disorder or damage.”举个🌰：The recent storms have wreaked havoc on crops. 最近的暴风雨给农作物造成了巨大的灾害。She was determined to wreak revenge/vengeance on both him and his family. 她决心要报复他和他的家人。

📍havoc /ˈhævək/ 作名词，表示“破坏，毁坏；混乱”，英文解释为“confusion and lack of order, especially causing damage or trouble”

🎬电影《歪小子斯科特》（Scott Pilgrim vs. the World）中提到：你知道吗，在你再去糟蹋别的女孩之前，你真该去照照镜子。You know what, maybe it's high.... time you took a look in a mirror before you wreak havoc on another girl.

1）表示“持续的，持久的”，英文解释为“continuing for a long time”举个🌰：His speech was greeted by sustained applause. 他的演讲博得了经久不息的掌声。

2）表示“坚定的，坚持不懈的”（determined），2020年政府工作报告中的例句：持续打造市场化、法治化、国际化营商环境 make sustained efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.

“While the pandemic has changed dramatically due to the introduction of many lifesaving tools, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, the impact of long Covid for all countries is very serious and needs immediate and sustained action equivalent to its scale,” he said.

他说：“虽然由于引入了许多挽救生命的工具，疫情发生了巨大变化，隧道尽头出现了曙光，但长新冠症状对所有国家的影响非常严重，需要立即采取与其规模相当的持续行动。”

1）作形容词，表示“（价值、数量、意义、重要性等）相等的，相同的”，英文解释为“equal in value, amount, meaning, importance, etc.”举个🌰：Eight kilometres is roughly equivalent to five miles. 八公里约等于五英里。

2）作名词，表示“相等的东西；等量；对应词”，英文解释为“a thing, amount, word, etc. that is equivalent to sth else”。

比如，提到Weibo时候会介绍为中国版的Twitter，常见的有几种说法：

🧣Weibo, China's Twitter-like service (SCMP)

🧣Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter (NPR NEWS)

🧣Twitter-like Weibo (Reuters)

🧣Weibo, a Twitter-like platform (NYT)

He added: “Early in the pandemic, it was important for overwhelmed health systems to focus all of their life saving efforts on Covid-19 patients presenting with acute infection. However, it is critical for governments to invest long-term in their health system and workers and make a plan now for dealing with long Covid.”

他补充说：“在疫情早期，医疗系统不堪重负，必须将所有拯救生命的努力集中在急性感染新冠患者身上。然而，现在关键是各国政府要对其医疗系统和医护人员进行长期投资，并立即制定应对长新冠症状的计划。”

overwhelmed /,əʊvə'welmd/ 作形容词，表示“（强烈地影响而使）不知所措的；被压倒的，被淹没的；受宠若惊的”，举个🌰：Sightseers may be a little overwhelmed by the crowds and noise. 观光者可能被人群和噪声搞得有点不知所措。

overwhelm /ˌoʊvərˈwelm/ 本身作动词，1）表示“（强烈地影响而）使不知所措”，英文解释为“If you are overwhelmed by a feeling or event, it affects you very strongly, and you do not know how to deal with it.”举个🌰：He was overwhelmed by a longing for times past. 他陷入了一种对过去的渴望而不能自拔。

2）表示“彻底制服；击败”，英文解释为“If a group of people overwhelm a place or another group, they gain complete control or victory over them.”举个🌰：It was clear that one massive Allied offensive would overwhelm the weakened enemy. 显然同盟国一次大规模的进攻就会彻底击败已被削弱的敌军。

1）表示“严峻的”，英文解释为“You can use acute to indicate that an undesirable situation or feeling is very severe or intense.”举个🌰：There is an acute shortage of water. 水严重短缺。

2）表示“（疾病）急性的”，英文解释为“an acute illness is one that has quickly become severe and dangerous”如：acute appendicitis 急性阑尾炎。

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