新加坡的一群工作人员在抗击新冠病毒中被赋予了一项重要职责。
The workers are called "contact trackers." Their job is to interview infected individuals as soon as possible after the patients are confirmed to have COVID-19, the disease the virus causes.
这些工作人员被称为“密切接触调查人员。”他们的职责是在患者确诊由新冠病毒引起的新冠肺炎之后，尽快对其进行调查。
The contact trackers speak with hospitalized patients over telephone. They are separated from infected individuals by two glass walls.
这些密切接触调查人员通过电话与住院患者进行交谈。他们与感染者被两层玻璃墙隔开。
The information they collect is then used to find out as much as possible about the patients' movements and contacts during the two weeks before they were hospitalized.
他们收集到的信息随后被用于尽可能多地找出患者在住院前两周内的运动轨迹和接触情况。
Conceicao Edwin Philip is one of the contact trackers. For several weeks, he has kept himself ready to get to the hospital as quickly as possible to interview new patients.
康西卡奥·埃德温·菲利普就是一名密切接触调查人员。几周来，他一直随时准备尽快到医院调查新患者。
"We have to drop everything, scramble and figure out where these patients have been," said Philip, an employee of Singapore General Hospital.
作为新加坡总医院员工的菲利普表示：“我们必须抛开一切，争分夺秒地弄清楚这些病人到过哪里。”
Philip is not a medical professional. But his work has become very important in the city-state's efforts to fight the virus.
菲利普并非医学专家。但是他的工作在这个城市抗击新冠病毒的措施中已经变得非常重要。
Singapore has won international praise for taking strong and immediate measures to battle COVID-19. Early on, Singapore had one of the highest infection rates outside of China. But other nations have since reported much higher spreads.
新加坡因为采取强力和迅速的措施抗击新冠肺炎而赢得了国际赞誉。早期，新加坡是中国以外感染率最高的国家之一。但此后其它国家都报告了更严重的病毒蔓延。
Philip said one way he tries to get patients to remember details about their movements is to ask them about all their meals on each day.
菲利普称他试图让患者想起自己详细运动轨迹的方法之一就是询问他们每天的饮食。
"Because once they can remember who they sat down with for a meal, that would give a rough estimate of the number of people in their surroundings," Philip said. "And they can usually remember what they did."
菲利普表示：“因为一旦他们想起跟谁一起吃饭，就可以粗略估算出他们周围的人数。并且他们通常会记起自己做了什么。”
Philip has experience tracking patient contacts for other diseases. He says it can be very difficult to get people to remember small details. But he added that it helps to stay cheerful.
菲利普有过追踪其他疾病患者接触情况的经验。他说，要让人们记住一些小细节可能非常困难。但他补充说，这有助于保持愉快。
"You have to be very, very patient with them," he added. "Don't get angry, because, just like you and me, most of us can't remember a lot of things.
菲利普还说：“你对他们必须非常有耐心。不要生气，因为就像你和我，我们大多数人都记不起很多事情。”
Philip usually has about two hours to interview patients about their whereabouts, travel history and contacts. He also examines their work calendars, computer records and purchase history. Philip also uses hospital records to identify which health workers have come into contact with COVID-19 patients.
菲利普通常有大约两个小时调查患者的行踪、旅行史以及接触情况。他还检查他们的工作日程、计算机记录和消费历史。菲利普还会使用医院病历来确定哪些医护人员跟新冠肺炎患者有接触。
Philip gives his results to a health ministry team that then speaks with identified individuals. Sometimes, police also use video from security cameras to find those at risk. Those people are then put into quarantine and closely watched for signs of the virus.
菲利普将他的调查结果提供给新加坡卫生部的一个小组，该小组随后同被确定的接触者进行交谈。有时候警察还会使用安保摄像头拍摄的视频来找出有风险的人士。然后将这些人隔离，并密切关注其患病迹象。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
我是布莱恩·林恩。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)