上周六，一名官员表示，在“奥密克戒”病毒株引发的南非第四波疫情期间，儿童住院率上升，但此事件不应引发恐慌，因为感染症状是温和的。11月，在南非茨瓦尼以及首都比勒陀利亚在内的市区，大量婴儿感染了新冠病毒，这引发了人们的担忧。新发现的“奥密克戒”病毒株可能比其他变异病毒株对婴幼儿构成更大的风险。科学家们还没有找到病毒溯源，称可能有其他因素导致了病毒的变异。公共卫生专家恩察基斯·马鲁勒克在接受路透社采访时说，“临床医生的报告让我们感到欣慰，这些儿童的病情轻微。”她补充说，“卫生官员和科学家们正在调查导致更年轻的儿童入院人数增加的原因，希望在两周内给予公众更明确的答复。”在南非疫情流行地区，由于只有一小部分病毒检测样本被送往机构进行基因组测序，官员们尚不知道入院的儿童感染了哪类变异病毒株。马鲁勒克说，医疗工作者出于谨慎行事。医护人员让孩子在看护诊室待上一两天进行观察，而不是让孩子待在家里进行隔离。“豪登省的许多患者报告了‘非特异性’流感样症状，比如喉咙沙哑。但她敦促父母和孕妇不要对这类症状掉以轻心，要进行检测，孕妇是近期入院人数较多的人群。”“公众需要减少恐惧，提高警惕。”马鲁勒克说，“尽管最近有很多人入住，豪登省的疫情病房专用床位仍然只有13%左右。”科学家们还没有确定由“奥密克戒”变异病毒株引起的疾病的严重程度，以及它是否可能对现有的疫苗有更强的耐药性。上个月，“奥密克戒”变异病毒株在非洲南部首次被发现，此后在30多个国家蔓延。A health worker administers vaccine during the launch of the South African leg of a global Phase III trial of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccination of children and adolescents, in Pretoria, South Africa, September 10, 2021. /ReutersA large number of infants admitted with COVID-19 last month in Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes the capital Pretoria, raised concerns that the newly identified Omicron could pose greater risks for young children than other variants.Scientists have yet to confirm any link and have cautioned that other factors could be at play.Ntsakisi Maluleke, a public health specialist in the Gauteng province that includes Tshwane and the biggest city Johannesburg, told Reuters that out of the 1,511 COVID-positive patients in hospitals in the province 113 were under 9 years old, a greater proportion than during previous waves of infection."We are comforted by clinicians' reports that the children have mild disease," she said in an interview, adding health officials and scientists were investigating what was driving increased admissions in younger ages and were hoping to provide more clarity within two weeks.Since only a small percentage of South Africa's positive COVID-19 tests are sent for genomic sequencing, officials do not yet know which variants the children admitted to the hospital have been infected with.Maluleke said healthcare workers could be acting out of an abundance of caution. "They would rather have a child under care for a day or two than having a child at home and complicating, ... but we really need to wait for the evidence," she said.She said many COVID-19 patients in Gauteng were reporting "non-specific" flu-like symptoms like a scratchy throat. But she urged parents and pregnant women, another cohort that has seen more hospital admissions recently, not to take flu-like symptoms lightly and to get tested in case intervention is needed further down the line."The public needs to be less fearful but vigilant," she said. Despite a recent influx of admissions, Gauteng's dedicated COVID-19 bed occupancy was still only around 13 percent, Maluleke said.Scientists are yet to determine what severity of illness is caused by the Omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa last month and since seen in more than 30 countries, and whether it may be more resistant to existing vaccines.
日本：明日起“封国”！
警惕！新型变异毒株奥密克戎或引发更大传播风险
奥密克戎已在世界多地被发现，WHO：全面旅行禁令无法阻止毒株传播
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