2021年经济学人 一周要闻 全球新增新冠病例持续下降（在线收听）

The Biden administration said that asylum-seekers could cross America’s southern border to have their applications heard. Donald Trump had insisted they wait in Mexico.

拜登政府表示，寻求庇护者可以越过美国南部边境，让他们的申请得到受理。特朗普此前坚持让他们在墨西哥等待。

Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, signed four decrees to make it easier to pack heat. Ordinary Brazilians will be allowed to buy as many as six guns (up from four) and carry two at once.

巴西总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗(Jair Bolsonaro)签署了四项法令，以使携带枪支更容易。巴西民众最多可购买6支枪(从4支增加到6支)，同时可以携带2支。

America vowed to punish the perpetrators of a rocket attack in Iraq’s Kurdistan region that killed a contractor with the American-led military coalition and wounded several others, including an American soldier. A pro-Iranian group claimed responsibility for the attack.

美国誓言要惩罚在伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区发动火箭袭击的凶手。那次袭击造成美国领导的军事联盟的一名承包商死亡，数人受伤，其中包括一名美国士兵。一个亲伊朗组织声称对这次袭击负责。

The UN called for an additional 3,700 peacekeepers to be sent to the Central African Republic to bolster a force that is already 15,000-strong. Rebels are advancing on the country’s main cities.

联合国呼吁向中非共和国增派3700名维和人员，以强化一支已有15000人的维和部队。叛军正在向该国主要城市行进。

Gunmen in Nigeria abducted 42 students and staff from a school, the latest such incident in a country plagued by kidnapping for ransom and political hostage-taking. In December 344 students were taken from another school, but later freed by security forces.

尼日利亚武装分子绑架了一所学校的42名学生和工作人员，这是该国最近发生的这类事件，这个国家的绑架勒索和政治人质劫持事件一直不断。去年12月，344名学生从另一所学校被带走，但后来被安全部队解救。

Guinea said that three people died after contracting Ebola, a virus that is usually fatal if not treated quickly. They are the first cases in west Africa since more than 11,000 people died in an outbreak in the region that raged from 2013 to 2016.

几内亚表示，有三人在感染埃博拉病毒后死亡，如果不迅速治疗，这种病毒通常是致命的。这是西非自2013年至2016年爆发疫情致1.1万多人死亡以来出现的首批病例。

Seif Sharif Hamad, the vice-president of Zanzibar, died after catching COVID-19. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania. John Magufuli, Tanzania’s president, insists his country is free of the virus and that vaccinations against it are dangerous and do not work.

桑给巴尔副总统赛义夫·谢里夫·哈马德在感染新冠肺炎后去世。桑给巴尔是坦桑尼亚的半自治地区。坦桑尼亚总统约翰·马古富里坚称，坦桑尼亚没有这种病毒，接种疫苗是危险的，而且没有任何作用。

Coronavirus briefs

疫情一览

New recorded infections in India have tumbled from nearly 100,000 a day in September to under 10,000. In England a study found that infections have fallen by two-thirds since early January. California reported fewer than 5,000 new daily cases for the first time since November.

印度新记录的感染病例从9月份的每天近10万例下降至每天不到1万例。在英国，一项研究发现，自一月初以来，感染率已经下降了三分之二。自去年11月以来，加州报告的每日新增病例首次少于5000例。

The world’s first “human challenge” study of COVID-19 got the go-ahead in Britain. Volunteers aged 18-30 will be exposed to the coronavirus to establish how much of it is needed to cause infection.

全球首个关于新冠肺炎的“人类挑战”研究在英国获得批准。18-30岁的志愿者将接触冠状病毒，以确定引发感染所需的剂量。

The hours needed to shut and disinfect New York’s subway system at night have been reduced from four to two, a sign, said an official, that the city “is starting to return to normalcy”.

一名官员表示，纽约地铁系统的夜间关闭和消毒时间已从4个小时缩短至2个小时，这是该市“开始恢复正常”的迹象。

North Korea reportedly tried to hack Pfizer’s computers to find details of its vaccine. Strange for a country that officially claims not to have had any cases of COVID-19.

据报道，朝鲜曾试图侵入辉瑞公司的电脑，以获取其疫苗的详细信息。对于一个官方宣称没有任何新冠肺炎病例的国家来说，这样的举动让人生疑。