上周，奥克萨娜因需要观察而被送进产科病房。“一切都很正常，后来他们告诉我们有一名女子去世了，并且不许任何人进出病房，”这位35岁的女子说道。
last week, Oksana was in the maternity ward for observation. “Everything was fine, and then they told us that a woman had died, and they wouldn’t let anyone in or out,” the 35-year-old said.
此后四天，她一直被留在舍列霍夫的医院里。就在同一座城市，28岁的实验室工作人员达莉娅·希皮洛娃也曾住院治疗，后来据称死于鼠疫。
For four days, she was kept in hospital in Shelekhov, the same town where a 28-year-old lab worker, Darya Shipilova, was hospitalised before she was reported to have died of plague.
俄罗斯当局对此事轻描淡写，称希皮洛娃死于“病因不明的肺炎”，尸检结果也显示她身上并无任何与其在伊尔库茨克鼠疫防治研究所“工作性质”相关的感染痕迹。
Russian authorities have downplayed the incident saying she died from “pneumonia of an unknown aetiology”, and that post-mortem analysis showed no trace of an infection connected with her “professional work” at the Irkutsk anti-plague institute.
当地媒体报道称，希皮洛娃可能是在实验室里弄碎了试管后才染上这种疾病的。
Local media reports suggested she could have contracted the disease after breaking a test tube at the laboratory.
这一事件引发了全球对疫情可能暴发的担忧，人们也呼吁俄罗斯提供更多相关信息。
The incident has triggered global concern about a possible outbreak and calls for Russia to provide more information.
同时，此事也招致诸多批评，人们将其与莫斯科长期以来淡化或掩盖各类卫生灾难规模的行径相提并论——从苏联对1986年切尔诺贝利核事故的应对，到新冠疫情的处理皆是如此。在舍列霍夫，信息真空引发了各种谣言。
It has also drawn criticism and comparisons with Moscow’s long history of downplaying or covering up the scale of health disasters, ranging from the Soviet response to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster to the coronavirus pandemic. In Shelekhov, rumours have filled the information abyss.
“我看到报道说是什么不明原因的肺炎或者新冠之类的。说实话，我现在什么都不信了，”不愿透露姓氏的奥克萨娜说道，“信息实在太多，我都不知道该信什么、该听谁的了。”
“I’ve read about it being some kind of unclear pneumonia or Covid, something like that. To be honest, I don’t believe in anything anymore,” Oksana, who declined to give her surname, said. “There’s so much information that I no longer know what to believe or who to listen to.”
“事情发生当天，我妈妈打电话给我，大喊着说已经有10个人死了，可当时根本没有官方通报，”在医疗中心工作的22岁女子亚历山德拉·伊斯卡洛娃说道。
“The day it happened, my mum rang me, shouting that 10 people had already died, even though there were no official reports,” Alexandra Iskalova, a 22-year-old who works in a medical centre, said.
“我还在哪儿看到说是什么类似‘香港梅毒’的病，甚至说是熊传染的，”她说道，这里指的是俄罗斯一部热门电视剧里虚构的一种疾病。“因为没有官方声明，大家都慌了神，”她补充道。“我们也不清楚”从表面上看，这座小镇的街道上一切平静——没有恐慌情绪，戴口罩的人也很少。不过，很多人表示自己很担忧。
“I’d read somewhere that it was something like Hong Kong syphilis, and that it was actually caused by bears,” she said, referring to a fictional disease from a popular Russian TV show. “People were absolutely panicking because there were no official statements,” she added. ‘We don’t know’On the streets, the town appears outwardly calm – no panic and few masks. Yet many said they are concerned.
“这太可怕了，”22岁的阿丽娜说道。“我弟弟正在上小学。学校已经强制要求所有学生戴口罩，所以他们无论去哪儿都得戴着。要是家长实在担心，孩子甚至可以不去上学。”她还说，自己的姑姑在防疫研究所工作，如今也正在隔离中。66岁的塔季扬娜也对当局缺乏官方指导感到沮丧。
“It’s frightening,” said Alina, 22. “My brother’s at primary school. They’ve already made masks compulsory, so they have to wear them everywhere. They’re even allowed to stay off school if they’re really worried.”She said her aunt works at the anti-plague institute and was also quarantined. Tatyana, 66, is also frustrated by the lack of official guidance from the authorities.
“我们当然担心。到底要怎么保护自己呢？”她说，“我们既不清楚这种传染病是如何传播的，也不知道该如何检测。”她补充道：“现在各种谣言和信息满天飞，根本分不清哪些是真的。实际上，根本没人告诉我们真实情况。”
“Of course, we’re worried. How on earth are we supposed to protect ourselves?” she said. “We don’t know how the infection spreads, or how it’s detected.”“There are a lot of rumours going around, all kinds of information, and it’s unclear what’s true. In reality, nobody is telling us what actually happened,” she added.
10月7日，世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞敦促莫斯科方面澄清“有关伊尔库茨克研究所出现第二名病因不明的肺炎患者”的媒体报道。当被问及是否存在第二名患者时，克里姆林宫似乎予以否认。
On Oct 7, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Moscow to clarify “media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause” from the Irkutsk institute. When asked about a possible second case, the Kremlin appeared to reject it.
“媒体关于此事的报道绝大多数都是虚假信息，”发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫对记者说道。
“The vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
俄罗斯消费者权益保护局10月7日称，伊尔库茨克州的疫情形势依然“稳定”，目前已进行了近5000次检测，均未发现任何危险病原体。
Rospotrebnadzor said on Oct 7 that the situation in the Irkutsk region remained “stable”, and that nearly 5,000 tests had been conducted, none of which revealed dangerous pathogens.
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示愿意“帮助”俄罗斯，并称会致电俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京，就相关报道展开讨论。这一提议在舍列霍夫市的街头遭到了众人的嘲笑。“真是好笑，”68岁的前会计奥尔加说道。
US President Donald Trump has offered to “help” Russia, and said he would call his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the reports. That offer was widely laughed off on the streets of Shelekhov. “It’s just funny,” said Olga, a 68-year-old former accountant.
“他心里说不定还暗自高兴俄罗斯出了些问题，出现了什么‘瘟疫’呢，”她补充道。“要是我们国家真爆发了疫情，他估计还会开心呢。” 法新社
“In his heart he was probably happy that Russia had some problems, some kind of ‘plague’,” she added. “He’d probably be glad if we really had an epidemic in our country.”AFP