02 英国部分地区确认Omicron变种社区传播

Health secretary Sajid Javid on Monday confirmed that community transmission of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus was occurring in England, as the number of cases climbed to 336 across the UK.

英国卫生大臣萨伊德·贾维德周一证实，英国出现了新冠病毒Omicron变种社区传播，英国各地的Omicron确诊病例数量攀升至336例。

Javid said 261 Omicron cases have been identified in England, 71 in Scotland and 4 in Wales, adding that several cases were not linked to travel abroad. “It is highly likely that there is now community transmission across multiple regions of England, ”the health secretary said.

贾维德表示，英格兰已发现261例Omicron变种病例，苏格兰71例，威尔士4例，并补充称有几例与出国旅行无关。这位卫生大臣说：“现在英格兰多个地区很有可能出现了社区传播。”

“We don't yet have a complete picture of whether Omicron causes more severe disease or indeed how it interacts with vaccines,” he told MPs.

“我们还不完全了解Omicron变种是否会导致更严重的症状，或者它与疫苗如何相互作用。”他告诉议员们。

Despite the spread of the new variant, Boris Johnson, prime minister, earlier on Monday defended the government's strategy, arguing that more time was needed to assess the true impact of Omicron.

尽管这种新变种正在传播，但英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊周一早些时候为政府的战略进行了辩护，表示需要更多时间来评估Omicron变种的真正影响。