在德尔塔与奥密克戎两大毒株的肆虐下，美国新冠肺炎死亡病例在12月14日突破80万。美国成为全球新冠死亡人数最多的国家。尽管美国人口才占世界人口的4%，新冠死亡人数却占了全球新冠死亡总数的15%。

 

The US death toll¹ from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic² given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines⁴ became available last spring.

美国新冠死亡人数日前突破80万，考虑到其中超20万人是在今春疫苗上市后丧生的，这个一度难以想象的数字看起来格外可悲。

 

The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world, and is likely even higher.

这一数字代表着美国成为全世界新冠死亡人数最多的国家，而且真实死亡人数可能更多。

 

The US accounts for approximately 4% of the world's population but about 15% of the 5.3 million known deaths from the coronavirus since the outbreak began two years ago.

美国人口只占世界人口的4%左右，但是自从两年前暴发疫情以来，美国因此死亡的人数却占据了全球新冠死亡总人数（530万人）的15%。

 

The grim milestone⁵ comes as the world braces⁶ for rise in cases of the new Omicron variant⁷, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning it was spreading at an unprecedented⁸ rate.

在这一严峻关口下，世界各地正忙于应对不断增加的奥密克戎新变种毒株感染病例。世界卫生组织警告称奥密克戎病毒正在以史无前例的速度传播。

 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday the variant had been detected in 77 countries and was probably present in most countries worldwide.

世卫组织总干事谭德塞12月14日告诉记者称，已在77个国家发现了奥密克戎毒株，该毒株很可能已经传播到了全球多数国家。

 

Omicron, first detected by South Africa and reported to the WHO on 24 November, has a large number of mutations, which has concerned scientists. The new variant is posing a fresh threat as it gains a foothold in the US, though experts are not yet sure how dangerous it is.

最早发现于南非并于11月24日报告给世卫组织的奥密克戎毒株含有大量突变，这让科学家感到担忧。新毒株入侵美国后形成了新的威胁，而专家还不确定这一毒株到底有多危险。

 

The number of Covid deaths in the US, compiled and released by Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, is about equal to the population of Atlanta and St Louis combined, or Minneapolis and Cleveland put together. It is roughly equivalent to how many Americans die each year from heart disease or stroke.

约翰斯·霍普金斯大学12月14日编纂发布的报告显示，美国新冠死亡人数大致相当于亚特兰大和圣路易斯两个市的人口总和，或者明尼阿波里斯市和克利夫兰市的人口总和，同美国每年死于心脏病或中风的人数差不多。

 

A closely watched forecasting model from the University of Washington projects a total of over 880,000 reported deaths in the US by 1 March.

华盛顿大学一个密切关注疫情的预测模型显示，到明年3月1日，美国报告的新冠死亡人数将会超过88万。

 

The deadly milestone comes as cases and hospitalisations are on the rise again in the US, a spike⁹ driven by the highly contagious¹⁰ Delta¹¹ variant, which arrived in the first half of 2021 and now accounts for nearly all infections.

在美国新冠死亡人数突破80万之际，美国的确诊病例数量和住院人数再次上升，罪魁祸首是2021年上半年入侵美国的传染性超强的德尔塔变种毒株，目前美国几乎所有病例都是被德尔塔病毒感染的。

 

Health experts lament¹² that many of the deaths in the US were especially heartbreaking because the widely available and effective vaccines made them preventable.

卫生专家痛惜地表示，美国的许多死亡病例尤其令人感到心碎，因为有效的新冠疫苗已经分发到各地，这些死亡本来是可以防止的。

 

About 200 million Americans are fully¹³ vaccinated¹⁴, or just over 60% of the population. That is well short of what scientists say is needed to keep the virus in check.

目前约有2亿美国人完成疫苗接种，也就刚过美国人口的60%。这一接种率远远低于科学家认为遏制病毒传播所需的水平。

 

"Almost all the people dying are now dying preventable deaths," said Dr Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "And that's because they're not immunized."

约翰斯·霍普金斯大学布隆伯格公共卫生学院流行病学家克里斯·贝伊勒尔博士称：“现在新冠病毒导致的几乎所有死亡本来都是可以防止的。而这正是因为这些人没有接种疫苗。”

 

When the vaccine³ was first rolled out, the country's death toll stood at about 300,000. It hit 600,000 in mid-June and 700,000 on 1 October.

新冠疫苗刚推出时，美国新冠死亡人数大约为30万。6月中旬死亡人数达到了60万，10月1日死亡人数突破了70万。

 

Beyrer recalled that in March or April 2020, one of the worst-case scenarios¹⁵ projected upwards¹⁶ of 240,000 American deaths.

贝伊勒尔回忆道，2020年3、4月份时，预测显示的最糟情况是24万美国人死于新冠。

 

"And I saw that number, and I thought that is incredible – 240,000 American deaths?" he said.

他说：“当时，我看到这一数字觉得不可思议，24万美国人死亡？”

 

"And we're now past three times that number." He added: "And I think it's fair to say that we're still not out of the woods."

“而现在死亡人数已经超过了那个数字的3倍，”他补充道，“我认为完全可以说我们尚未脱离险境。”

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