Episode Details

The World Health Organization (WHO) says holiday gatherings and the spread of a new COVID-19 variant led to increased hospitalizations and deaths last month. 

世界卫生组织 (WHO) 表示，假日聚会和新的 COVID-19 变种的传播导致上个月住院和死亡人数增加。

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that nearly 10,000 deaths were reported in December. He added that hospitalizations during the month jumped 42 percent in nearly 50 countries. 

世卫组织总干事谭德塞周三表示，12 月份报告有近 1 万人死亡。他补充说，本月近 50 个国家的住院人数猛增了 42%。 

Tedros said, “Although 10,000 deaths a month is far less than the peak of the pandemic, this level of preventable deaths is not acceptable." 

谭德塞表示，“虽然每月1万人的死亡人数远低于疫情高峰期，但这种可预防的死亡人数是不可接受的。” 

Tedros said it was “certain” that cases of COVID-19 were increasing in other places that have not been reporting case numbers. 

谭德塞表示，“可以肯定”，在其他尚未报告病例数的地方，COVID-19 病例正在增加。 

Tedros said the JN.1 variant is now the most common in the world. Since it is an Omicron variant, current vaccines should still provide some protection. Health officials in the U.S. say there is no evidence that JN.1 causes more severe disease than recent variants. 

谭德塞表示，JN.1 变种目前是世界上最常见的变种。由于它是 Omicron 变种，目前的疫苗仍应提供一些保护。美国卫生官员表示，没有证据表明 JN.1 会导致比最近的变种更严重的疾病。 

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there have been at least 110,000 hospitalizations and 6,500 deaths from the flu since October. 

在美国，疾病控制与预防中心 (CDC) 报告称，自 10 月份以来，已有至少 11 万人因流感住院治疗，6,500 人死亡。 

The agency added that COVID-19 illnesses were not increasing as quickly f