国际专家组批评韩国对MERS疫情早期应对不力

SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean government’s failure to share information quickly with the public and establish an efficient disease-control system contributed to worsening the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in the country, a joint panel of experts from the World Health Organization and South Korea said Saturday.

韩国首尔——世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)与韩国联合成立的一个专家组周六表示，韩国政府未能迅速向公众共享信息，未能建立起高效的疾病控制体系，这加剧了中东呼吸综合征（Middle East Respiratory Syndrome，简称MERS）疫情在该国的爆发。

The experts have spent the past week visiting hospitals and meeting with health authorities to assess the outbreak, which has killed 14 people, and make recommendations.

上述专家过去一周走访医院并与卫生主管部门会面，从而对疫情进行评估，并作出建议。疫情已在韩国导致14人死亡。

“One of the things South Korea failed to do was a transparent and rapid distribution of information, which is the most important thing to do,” said Lee Jong-koo, the leader of the South Korean side of the joint mission, at a news conference Saturday.

“韩国未能做到的事项中，包括未能迅速、透明地传播信息，这应该是重中之重，”联合专家组韩方负责官员李钟求(Lee Jong-koo)周六在新闻发布会上表示。

A “failure to establish proper governance” in controlling the outbreak in its early stages also contributed to “confusion” among the public, Mr. Lee said.

在疫情出现的初期，“未能建立妥善的管理手段”控制蔓延，也在公众当中造成了“混乱”，李钟求说。

The disease, known as MERS, is known to have infected 145 people in South Korea since the first patient was identified on May 20. The outbreak is the largest to date outside the Middle East, where the virus first emerged in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and has killed more than 400 people.

自首位患者5月20日确诊以来，韩国已知的MERS感染者已有145人。此次疫情爆发是有史以来，中东地区以外规模最大的一次。这种病毒最初是2012年在沙特阿拉伯出现的，当时的疫情造成超过400人死亡。

One of the tasks of the joint mission was to determine why so many people were infected in South Korea in a relatively short period of time. On Saturday, Keiji Fukuda, chief World Health Organization official on the panel, pointed to several factors: South Korean doctors’ unfamiliarity with MERS; the country’s “overcrowded” emergency rooms; the practice of “doctor shopping” for care at many different clinics; and the fact that hospital rooms here tend to be bustling with visitors. Nearly all of the country’s confirmed MERS patients were infected while seeking care or while visiting patients at hospitals. Hospital staff members were also infected.

联合专家组的一项任务是，研究在相对短暂的时间里，韩国为什么有这么多人感染。联合小组中世卫组织方面的负责官员福田敬二(Keiji Fukuda)在周六指出了若干项因素：韩国医生不熟悉MERS；该国医疗机构的急诊室“过于拥挤”；在不同的诊所之间“挑拣医生”寻求医护的做法；以及韩国医院的病房里，经常有人头攒动的来访者。该国几乎所有的MERS确诊病例，都是在求医时或在医院探望病人时感染的。医院的医护人员也受到了感染。

Mr. Fukuda said the panel had found no evidence to indicate that MERS was spreading in the broader population. “However, continued monitoring for this possibility is critical throughout the entire outbreak,” he said. “Now, because the outbreak has been large and is complex, more cases should be anticipated.”

福田敬二表示，专家组没有找到显示MERS向范围更广的公众传播的证据。“然而，在疫情持续的整个时间段，持续监控这种可能性是很关键的，”他说。“因为疫情规模大、情况复杂，现在应当预期会有更多病例出现。”

Both Mr. Fukuda and Mr. Lee said that the rate of new infections was decreasing, as South Korean officials have improved their communications with the public and carried out stronger infection-control measures. Twelve new MERS cases were reported Saturday, and seven more on Sunday.

福田敬二和李钟求表示，随着韩国官员改善了与公众的沟通，并采取了更有力的措施防控感染，新病例的感染率出现了下降。周六报告了12个新增MERS感染病例，周日报告了7例。

The government has come under heavy criticism for withholding critical information early in the outbreak, like the names and locations of hospitals where infections had occurred. It eventually released the hospitals’ names, weeks after the first case was discovered. The outbreak has been a blow to President Park Geun-hye, whose approval rating has fallen in recent weeks.

由于在疫情出现早期没有公布关键信息，如感染者姓名和发生感染的医院的位置，政府受到了严厉的批评。在发现第一个病例的数周后，政府终于公布了医院的名称。疫情的爆发对韩国总统朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)产生了冲击，她的支持率在最近几周出现下降。

Mr. Fukuda, who said transparency during an outbreak was “the basis of trust,” urged South Korea to continue to enforce a strong quarantine and monitoring system. He also recommended that the country invest more in its public health system, particularly by hiring more epidemiologists and expanding its laboratories’ capacities.

福田敬二表示，疫情爆发期间，透明度是“信任的基础”。他敦促韩国政府，要继续推行有力的隔离和监控措施。他还建议，韩国应该对公共卫生系统给予更大投入，尤其是聘请更多流行病学家，拓展实验室的能力。