This is an outbreak of disease that started in Wuhan. It's one of the central Chinese cities. It's caused by a novel coronavirus—that means it's brand-new, so new that actually it doesn't have a name yet.
這場疫情在武漢爆發。武漢是中國中部的城市。疫情是由一種新型冠狀病毒引起－－稱呼它為新型，意思是它是全新發現的病毒，甚至還沒有名稱。
What are the symptoms?
患病者會有什麼症狀？
It's from a family called the coronaviruses. The symptoms of this illness are pretty mundane on the face of it. It's a dry cough, fever, and then breathing problems. It seems quite mild in lots of people, and probably those people don't end up in hospital at all. We only know about the more severe cases, which is where people have gone on to develop viral pneumonia. And those people obviously end up in hospital, and all the deaths have been amongst those people.
這個新型病毒是冠狀病毒家族的一員。患者的症狀其實很常見。會乾咳、發燒，或有呼吸問題。許多病患的症狀都很和緩，甚至有些人也沒去醫院。我們只知道較嚴重的病例是，有些人進一步得到病毒性肺炎。這些人最後都有就醫，死亡病例也都是來自這些人。
Where have cases been confirmed so far?
哪裡已經有確診病例了？
This brand-new coronavirus came from animals, and it's believed that the source was actually a seafood market in Wuhan, which also sells wild animals. So far, as far as we know, all the cases have come out of Wuhan. So, some of these people are in places like Thailand and Japan, but they haven't picked it up there. They actually got it in Wuhan, and then they traveled.
這個新型冠狀病毒是從動物身上發現的，據稱是從武漢的海鮮市場爆發，市場裡也販賣許多野味。到目前為止，我們得知所有案例都是從武漢而來。有些病例也在泰國或日本出現，但他們並非本地感染。他們其實都是在武漢被感染，並旅遊至他處。
Should I be panicking about this outbreak?
對於這次疫情爆發，我應該感到恐慌嗎？
In China, where the most cases are, it's older people who are ending up in hospital with this. They're usually over 40. And the very youngest person diagnosed is about 13 or 14 years old. So, it doesn't appear to be affecting small children. And those who've died tend actually to have underlying conditions as they say. They're frail. They may have heart disease or cancer already. And so they're vulnerable. Basically, their immune systems are not very robust. And they're going to find it very hard to fight off a virus.
大多數病例都是在中國發現，而多是年長者會發病進醫院。大多超過四十歲。最年輕的確診病例為十三或十四歲。所以看起來並不會感染小孩。而那些死亡病例大多都有潛在身體狀況。他們身體不好。有的可能早就有心臟疾病或癌症。所以他們其實很脆弱。基本上他們的免疫系統並沒有非常強健。所以要戰勝病毒是很困難的。
How is this virus transmitted?
病毒如何傳染？
We've only just discovered that the new coronavirus is actually transmitted from one person to another. It was hoped at first, actually, that it just came from animals as all coronaviruses do, but now it looks as though it is actually passed from one human being to another. So, we've got people-to-people transmission. Because the market's been closed for some time, and there are cases in people who've never been near it.
我們剛發現這種新型冠狀病毒其實可以人傳人。最初其實希望這病毒只會從動物身上感染，如同其他冠狀病毒一樣，但現在看起來其實能夠人傳人。其實已經有人傳人的案例了。因為海鮮市場已經關了好一陣子，也有一些從來沒靠近過海鮮市場的人發病。
What treatment is available?
有可行的療法嗎？
So, there actually isn't any treatment at the moment at all. Because this is a virus, antibiotics won't work—that they only work against bacteria, not viruses. So, really you want to know an antiviral treatment, but none of the flu drugs that we've got, and we have got a couple of those, will work on this. Coronavirus is different from a flu virus, so there actually isn't any treatment at the moment at all.
武漢肺炎目前其實無藥可醫。因為這是病毒引起的，抗生素沒有用－－抗生素只能對抗細菌，對病毒無效。大家都很希望找到抗病毒的治療方法，但目前我們有的抗流感藥都沒辦法有效對抗冠狀病毒。冠狀病毒和其他流感病毒不同，所以其實目前沒有任何有效療法。
How serious is this outbreak compared to others in the past?
這次爆發的疫情與過去相比有多嚴重呢？
This one is scary because it is a brand-new virus. So we don't know how it's going to behave. But I have to say, we perhaps ought to put it in the context of some of the other things. I went to Sierra Leone to cover the West Africa outbreak of Ebola. And that was killing more than half of all those people who were infected. SARS, which was a novel coronavirus just like this one back in 2002, did end up causing a global panic. And that was largely because nobody had ever seen it before, but also the death rate was at around 10 percent. Well, here so far we're talking about the death rate of 2 percent, which is a lot less. And it does look as if many of those people actually have had underlying health problems, which would make it more likely that they would die. They could equally have died of flu, so you have to put it into that context, I think.
這次疫情非常可怕，因為這是個全新的病毒。所以我們不知道這種病毒會有什麼行為。但我必須說，我們應該將其他狀況納入考量。我曾到獅子山支援西非爆發的伊波拉病毒。感染上病毒的病患半數以上都死亡了。而 2002 年爆發的 SARS 也是如同這次的新型病毒，的確造成了全球恐慌。這多半是因為沒人看過這種病毒，且死亡率高達大約百分之十。而這次的病毒目前為止的死亡率是百分之二，比起當年的 SARS 低了許多。而死亡病例中其實許多人都有潛在的健康問題，導致患病者更容易死亡。他們同樣也可能死於流感，所以我想我們也得將這種情況納入考量。
