星期日泰晤士報：2012年中國發現類似新冠肺炎病例和死亡

星期日泰晤士報

2020年7月4日報道，中國在2012年發現類似新冠病毒

Revealed: Seven year coronavirus trail from mine deaths to a Wuhan lab

部分原文和譯文：

2013年中國科學家就在一個廢棄的礦井中發現了已知與新冠病毒最接近的病毒，在那兒曾經發生與Covid-19類似的呼吸係統疾病並導致死亡。

The world’s closest known relative to the Covid-19 virus was found in 2013 by Chinese scientists in an abandoned mine where it was linked to deaths caused by a coronavirus-type respiratory illness

2012年8月的雨季，一小隊科學家來到中國西南部調查一種新發現的神秘的致命疾病。在驅車經過了茶場的梯田後，他們到達此行目的地：一個已經廢棄的銅礦，他們身著白色全身防護服和防毒麵具，在黑暗中冒險前行。

突然一股惡臭迎麵撲來，頭頂上是群居倒掛的蝙蝠，腳下成群的老鼠和鼩鼱在厚厚的糞便堆積中匆匆亂竄。這裏是一個各種微生物和對人類致命病原體發生變異的溫床。有理由給以特別關注。幾周前，有六個進入這個銅礦的人患上了無法控製的肺炎，其中三人已死亡。

In the monsoon season of August 2012 a small team of scientists travelled to southwest China to investigate a new and mysteriously lethal illness. After driving through terraced tea plantations, they reached their destination: an abandoned copper mine where — in white hazmat suits and respirator masks — they ventured into the darkness.

Instantly, they were struck by the stench. Overhead, bats roosted. Underfoot, rats and shrews scurried through thick layers of their droppings. It was a breeding ground for mutated micro-organisms and pathogens deadly to human beings. There was a reason to take extra care. Weeks earlier, six men who had entered the mine had been struck down by an illness that caused an uncontrollable pneumonia. Three of them died.