2020年经济学人 韩国夜店出现新冠肺炎集体感染(1)（在线收听）

Asia

亚洲板块

Covid-19 in South Korea

韩国的新冠肺炎

A catchy beat

一次记忆深刻的打击

A cluster of infections at nightclubs mars the relaxation of restrictions

夜店出现的一系列感染事件破坏了限制的放宽举措。

Apart from the temperature checks at the boarding gate and the face masks worn by passengers and crew, there was nothing unusual about the flight that left Seoul’s Gimpo airport for the southern island of Jeju on the morning of May 1st. There was not a single spare seat on the plane, nor on many of the 108 others that departed for the same destination that day.

除了登机口的温度检查以及乘客和机组人员戴的口罩外，那个于5月1日上午从首尔金浦机场离开，飞往南部济州岛的航班没有出现什么异常。飞机上没有一个空位，当天飞往同一目的地的108个其他航班中也都满员了。

Buoyed by much-relaxed social-distancing recommendations following weeks of very few new cases of covid-19, Seoulites emerged from their cramped apartments to spend the long holiday weekend by the sea. Closer to home, thousands of partygoers from both Seoul and the rest of the country flocked to the capital’s bars and clubs, which had reopened after a brief closure in April.

韩国几周以来基本没有出现新增新冠肺炎病例，首尔市民收到韩国政府放松社交距离建议的鼓舞，他们从狭小的公寓出来，在海边度过漫长的假日周末。在家附近，数千名来自首尔和韩国其他地方的派对客们蜂拥到首都的酒吧和俱乐部，这些酒吧和俱乐部在4月份短暂关闭后重新开业。

The return of domestic tourism and nightlife reflected public confidence in South Korea’s ability to keep the virus at bay.But in at least one instance, that confidence was misplaced.The tourists who frolicked by the sea suffered few adverse consequences beyond a spot of sunburn. Revellers in Seoul’s clubs, however, were not so lucky.Shortly after the long weekend, it emerged that customers had carried the virus into several busy nightspots. More than 100 new infections have been traced to clubsinItaewon, a popular entertainment district. Since the affected areas saw thousands of visitors on the date in question, the number of infections is likely to continue to rise.

国内旅游业以及夜生活的回归，反映了公众对韩国病毒控制能力的信心。但至少有一个例子表明，他们不该如此有信心。在海边嬉戏的游客除了有点晒伤外，几乎没有什么不良后果。然而，首尔俱乐部的狂欢者们没这么幸运了。在漫长的周末过后不久，有消息称顾客们携带病毒进入几个繁忙的夜店。梨泰院是一个很受欢迎的娱乐区，在那里追踪到超过100个新增感染病例。由于感染地区在事发当天有数千名游客，感染数量可能继续上升。

Tracking down potential patients, which has been South Korea’s main strength in suppressing the virus, has proved harder than during previous outbreaks.Contact-tracing initially focused on a handful of gay bars visited by a man who later tested positive.Homosexuality is often stigmatised in South Korea.Being outed as gay (the effective result of the man’s home town and workplace becoming public knowledge in the process of contact-tracing) can lead to people being fired from their jobs and ostracised by friends, family and neighbours. Many of the names and telephone numbers on the lists of customers that clubs have been obliged to keep since reopening turned out to be fake.

追踪潜在患者一直是韩国抑制病毒的主力，但事实证明，追踪过程要比之前的疫情爆发时更加困难。接触追踪最初集中在几个同性恋酒吧，有一名后来检测呈阳性的男子曾经到访过。在韩国，同性恋常常被视为耻辱。公开出柜（接触追踪过程中男人的家乡和工作场被公开）可能导致被解雇，并受到朋友、家人和邻居的排斥。复工起来，俱乐部记录的客户名单上的许多顾客的名字和电话号码后来证明都是假的。