Now, scientists have identified a new variant called Omicron; it has 30 mutations affecting these spike proteins, which the virus uses to attach itself to human cells to infect them.

現在，科學家們已經確定了一個名為 Omicron 的變異株。它有 30 個影響棘蛋白的突變，病毒利用這些突變將自己附著在人體細胞上，從而感染它們。

- This is a clarion call, as fas as I'm concerned. - Yeah.

-就我所擔憂的，這是一個當頭棒喝。-沒錯。

It does appear that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.

看來 Omicro 的傳染速度確實非常快，而且可以在打兩劑疫苗的人之間傳播。

Scientists in South Africa first sounded the alarm over the variant.

南非的科學家最早對變異株敲響了警報。

As people start to move even more over the next few weeks, this will be all over.

隨著人們開始在未來幾周內進行更多的移動，病毒會散播到各處。

It has been detected in a growing number of locations around the world, prompting governments including the US to restrict travel from Southern Africa and Israel to ban entry to all foreign national.

在世界各地越來越多地方發現這種病毒，促使包括美國在內的各國政府對來自南非和以色列發布旅遊限制，禁止所有外國國民入境。

It's too early to know how concerned we should be about this, but there are enough signals that this is something that's important that needs to be investigated.

現在我們該如何關注此事還為時過早，但有足夠的跡象表明這是需要調查的重要事情。

The variant was declared a variant of concern by the World Health Organization.

該變異株被世界衛生組織宣佈為重要的變異株。

The agency said there could be an increased risk of COVID-19 reinfection with Omicron compared to other variants, and authorities say it could be more transmissible.

該組織指出，與其他變異株相比，得過 COVID-19 再感染 Omicron 的風險可能會增加，當局說它可能更具傳染性。

A number of cases have been linked to South Africa, where scientists believe it could have caused a spike in infections.

在一些與南非有關的病例中，讓科學家認為它可能造成感染的暴增。

The number of infections detected per day rose sharply to nearly 3,000 cases on Sunday from roughly 200 cases just two weeks earlier.

每天檢測到的確診數從兩週前的大約 200 例急劇上升到週日的近 3000 例。

This new variant has more than 50 mutations, more than 30 of them, they are in the spike protein, which is the part through which the virus latches onto the human cell, but there's a lot of mutations that we've never seen.

這個新的變異株有 50 多個突變，其中 30 多個是在棘蛋白中。這是病毒侵入人類細胞的途徑，但有很多突變是我們從未見過的。

There's a bunch that, in previous variants, have shown to make the variant either more contagious or allow it to evade parts of the immune response that was triggered by a vaccine or by a past infection.

以前的變異株中有一堆突變，顯示出變異株不是更具傳染性，就是讓它逃避由疫苗或過去感染所觸發的部分免疫反應。

The Omicron variant has twice as many mutations as the Delta variant, a highly contagious strain that was identified in India, October of last year and became the dominant form of the virus around the world.

Omicron 變異株的突變數量是 Delta 變異株的兩倍，Delta 在去年 10 月在印度被發現，是一種高度傳染性的病毒，成為全球的主要病毒形式。

Now, scientists are racing to investigate how widespread the Omicron variant could be.

現在，科學家們正競相調查這種 Omicron 變異株可能有多廣泛。

It's hard to know exactly how much it spread.

很難確定它的傳播程度。

Most cases don't get diagnosed and an even fewer number gets sequence.

大多數病例都沒有被診斷出來，甚至更少病例被算入統計。

So, whatever number of cases are officially reported or whatever number of countries that have officially reported cases, that is likely an underestimate with an efficiently spreading respiratory virus.

無論官方報告多少病例，或官方報告多少病例的國家，對於一種高度傳染的呼吸道病毒來說，這都可能是一個低估的數字。

So I suspect you'll find more cases in more countries.

我懷疑你會在更多國家找到更多確診數。

Pfizer, Moderna, and other vaccine makers have said they have plans in place to adapt their vaccines following the emergence of Omicron.

輝瑞、莫德納和其他疫苗製造商表示，他們在 Omicron 出現後已經有計劃調整他們的疫苗。

BIONTECH, which developed one of the most commonly-used COVID-19 vaccines together with Pfizer, said they expect to be able to tweak their vaccine in around 100 days if needed.

BioNTech 與輝瑞公司一起研發出最常用的 COVID-19 疫苗之一，並表示如果急需的話，他們預計能夠在 100 天內左右微調他們的疫苗。

When it comes to variants, when they possess certain mutations that have already been associated with certain changes in the behavior of the virus,

談到變異株時，它們的突變與病毒的某些行為變化有關。

like the ability to evade vaccines or monoclonal antibodies or prior immunity or the ability to transmit more efficiently.

例如逃避疫苗、單株抗體或免疫力的能力或更有效的傳染能力。

Those have to be taken seriously and have to be investigated because it may change how we need to respond to or think about the virus and the trajectory of the pandemic.

這些必須認真對待，而且要進行調查，因為它可能會改變我們需要應對或思考的病毒和疫情的軌跡。

Scientists have also warned for months that the risk of new variants is higher where vaccination rates are lower, especially in areas with people who are immunocompromised.

科學家們這幾個月來也警告說，在疫苗接種率較低的地方，尤其是免疫力較低的的地區，感染新變異株的風險會更高。

In South Africa, only about one-fourth of the population is fully vaccinated; it's nearly 60% in the US.

在南非，只有約 1/4 的人口完全接種疫苗，而在美國的比例接近 60%。

This, I think, is not a coincidence that it arose or was detected in a place with a low vaccination level,

我不認為變異株在一個疫苗接種程度低的地方出現或檢測到，是一個巧合。

which tells us that the more vaccination we get into people, the higher the vaccination numbers are, the more resilient we're going to be to variants like this.

這告訴我們，越多人去打疫苗，疫苗的接種數就越高，對這樣的變異株就越有適應性。