A pneumonia outbreak that has infected more than 50 people in the Chinese city of Wuhan was caused by a coronavirus, which is the same kind of pathogen involved in the deadly Sars outbreak in 2003, Chinese state media said on Thursday.
中國官方媒體週四報導，武漢爆發的一種導致逾50人感染的肺炎是由一種冠狀病毒引起的，它與2003年爆發的致死性「非典」(SARS)疫情中的病原體屬同一家族。（注：圖爲泰國曼谷機場人員檢查來自武漢的中國遊客。）
The outbreak, which comes ahead of the lunar new year holidays in late January when millions of Chinese will be travelling to see their families, has caused alarm in the region. The virus has prompted widespread concern on Chinese social media and triggered memories of the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, that infected more than 8,000 people worldwide and killed more than 700, including almost 300 in Hong Kong.
此次疫情的爆發在該地區引起了恐慌——此時正值1月底的春節假期前夕，無數中國人將回家探親。引發此次疫情的病毒在中國社群媒體上引起了廣泛關注，讓人們回憶起了2003年嚴重急性呼吸綜合徵——又稱非典——的爆發，當時，全球有逾8000人感染，逾700人死亡，其中香港因病致死的人數有近300人。
The World Health Organization said, in a statement issued on Thursday, the Chinese authorities believed the disease “does not transmit readily between people”, but noted that it could cause severe illness in some patients.
世界衛生組織(WHO)在週四發佈的一份聲明中稱，中國當局表示這種疾病「未發現明確的人傳人證據」，但指出它可在部分患者身上引發嚴重病症。
