As the number of coronavirus cases in South Korea exceeded 6,000 this week, there was a rise, too, in complaints about information overload in the form of emergency virus text alerts that have included embarrassing revelations about infected people’s private lives.
韩国在本周的新冠病毒病例累计超过了6,000例，与此同时，人们对关于病毒的短信提醒的不满也在增加，因为短信中包含了太多的个人信息，其中还尴尬地揭露了一些确诊患者的私人生活。
Health authorities and district offices across the country are sending “safety guidance texts” from early morning to late at night, reminding people to wash their hands thoroughly and not to touch their faces with unwashed hands.
全国各地的卫生部门和民政部门从早到晚地发送“安全指导短信”，提醒人们彻底洗手，洗手前不能触摸脸。
But for many people, the texts – while intended as a public health service – are fuelling social stigma and in some cases, leading to speculation over extra-marital affairs. Much of the criticism centres on messages that trace the movements of people who have recently been diagnosed with the virus.
但是，对于许多人来说，这些短信的目的虽然是为公共卫生服务，却助长了社会上不光彩的事情，在某些情况下还导致了人们对婚外情的猜测。人们主要是在批评那些追踪确诊患者的行踪的信息。
One involved a man in his 50s who returned from Wuhan province in China with his 30-year-old secretary. Both were infected in the early days of the epidemic. In another case, reported by the BBC, one alert said a man contracted the virus from an instructor during a sexual harassment class.
其中一条短信中提到，一名50多岁的男子与一名30岁的秘书从中国武汉省回来后，两人都在疫情初期感染。BBC报道了另外一个例子，有一条短信中说道，一名男子在性骚扰课程中被一名教员传染。
As South Korean media pored over their movements, citizens looked on with a mixture of horror and fascination as their private lives were laid bare, leading to speculation that they were having an affair and that the secretary had undergone plastic surgery.
随着韩国媒体对他们行踪的深入了解，他们的私生活被人们一览无余，人们怀着既害怕又好奇的心情吃着瓜，后来大家猜测他们在搞外遇，而且秘书做过整容手术。
In another text that captured people’s imagination, a man in his 30s who tested positive became the target of online taunts about his sexual behaviour after authorities said in a text alert that they had been unable to track his movements after he arrived at Seoul’s main railway station from the capital’s airport.
另一条令人浮想联翩的短信中提到，一名30多岁的男子检测呈阳性，他因为他的性行为成为网友嘲讽的目标，有关部门在短信中表示，他从首都机场到达首尔的主要地铁站，之后便无法追踪到他的行踪。
Since the area near the station is known for prostitution, the man, known only by his case number, was repeatedly accused on online forums of paying for sex. In fact, he had simply eaten at a restaurant in the neighbourhood, health authorities said, blaming the earlier confusion over his whereabouts on a technical glitch.
该地铁站附近的地区以嫖娼而出名，因此虽然网友只知道这名男子的病例编号，但还是不断地对他进行人身攻击，说他进行了性交易。卫生部门说，实际上他只是在附近的一家餐馆吃饭，然后把之前无法确定他的行踪归咎于技术故障。
The text alerts are also affecting shops and restaurants that infected people visited before their diagnosis was confirmed. While the texts do not identify the patients – other than giving their gender, age range and assigning them a case number – they do reveal the names of shops and restaurants they visited before they were tested.
这些短信还影响感染者在确诊之前去过的商店和餐馆。 尽管短信中没有说出患者的身份——除了给出了他们的性别，年龄范围并给他们进行了病例编号——但是却揭露了他们在接受测试之前去过的商店和餐馆的名字。
While restaurants that had been named closed temporarily for fumigation, they say their association with the virus could put them out of busines.
虽然在短信中提到的这些餐馆为了消毒而暂停营业，但他们说与新冠病毒的联系可能会使他们彻底倒闭。
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