新冠病毒的一种奥密克戎亚变体毒株正在世界许多地方传播，引起了专家们的关注。
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that BA.2, a sub-variant of Omicron, has caused 35 percent of all new cases in the United States. In the northeastern states, including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, BA.2 has made up more than half of the cases. The total number of infections, however, has been decreasing and officials around the country have lifted measures such as required cloth face coverings and social distancing.
本周，美国疾控预防中心报告称，奥密克戎亚变体BA.2已经导致了全国35%的新病例。在包括纽约、新泽西和马萨诸塞州在内的东北部各州，BA.2已经占到了一半以上病例。然而，感染总数一直在减少，美国各地官员已经取消了诸如要求戴口罩和保持社交距离等措施。
The Omicron variant of the virus was first reported last November in South Africa. It has three main sub-variants known as BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. Scientists believe they all appeared at the same time but Omicron BA.1 was linked to most of the cases reported over recent months.
奥密克戎亚变体于去年11月在南非首次爆出。它主要有三种亚变体，分别被称为BA.1,BA.2以及BA.3。科学家认为它们是同时出现的，但是最初报告的大多数病例都跟奥密克戎BA.1相关。
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said reported cases of Omicron BA.2 have been increasing in comparison to BA.1. The health agency found that although BA.2 could spread faster, it does not make people sicker than BA.1.
世卫组织上个月表示，报告的奥密克戎BA.2病例相当于BA.1一直在增长。该卫生机构发现，虽然BA.2传播更快，但是症状并不会比BA.1更严重。
By Tuesday, the WHO wrote in its weekly report that BA.2 had overtaken all other versions of the virus in Southeast Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, the Western Pacific and Europe. In Britain, the Office for National Statistics also reported that cases of BA.2 infection had outnumbered other versions by early March.
世卫组织在其周报中写道，到周二为止，BA.2在东南亚、地中海东部、非洲、西太平洋以及欧洲已经超过了该病毒的其它所有版本。英国国家统计局也报告称，截至3月初，BA.2感染病例已经超过了其它所有版本。
Dr. Anthony Fauci is the U.S. government's top infectious disease expert. He told ABC's This Week program that the U.S. would likely see an increase of infections like Britain. Fauci said: "They have BA.2. They have a relaxation of some restrictions such as indoor masking." Additionally, immunity from vaccines and past infections was also decreasing.
安东尼·福奇博士是美国政府最高传染病专家。他对美国广播公司的《本周》栏目表示，美国可能会像英国一样出现感染人数的增长。福奇说：“英国有BA.2。他们放宽了一些限制，例如室内戴口罩。”此外，疫苗和既往感染产生免疫力也在下降。
Dr. Eric Topol is head of Scripps Research Translational Institute. He told the Associated Press, "It's inevitable we will see a BA.2 wave here."
艾里克·托普是斯克里普斯研究转化研究所的负责人。他对美联社表示：“我们不可避免地会在美国看到BA.2的感染浪潮。”
However, Ali Mokdad, a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington does not expect a big increase in the U.S. in the coming weeks.
然而，华盛顿大学健康指标与评估研究所教授阿里·穆克达德预计未来几周美国不会出现大幅增长。
He wrote on Twitter: "Our models do not suggest there will be much of an increase in the US in the next weeks, if at all. However, it is possible that the rapid return to pre #COVID19 behavior and the spread of BA.2 could see a short period of increasing case numbers."
他在推特上写道：“我们的模型表明，即便发生，未来几周美国也不会出现大幅增长。然而，有可能迅速恢复到新冠肺炎之前的行为，BA.2的传播可能会导致病例数在短期内增长。”
And an early study in Qatar also suggests that vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna will work against both Omicron sub-variants. The results suggest that the level of protection against BA.2 is about the same as for BA.1.
卡塔尔的一项早期研究还表明，辉瑞-德国生物新科技以及莫德纳的疫苗能对抗奥密克戎的两个亚变体。研究结果表明其对BA.2的保护水平与对BA.1的保护水平大致相同。
I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.
我是小马里奥·里特。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)