详细内容请关注周日微信，或登录以下网址：

http://english.cri.cn/7146/2014/10/27/2582s849478.htm

This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Here is the news.

Health care workers should be completely covered with no skin exposed, while caring for Ebola patients, that's according to revised guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The government agency tightened its guidance after two Dallas nurses became infected with the virus while caring for an Ebola patient.

The new guidelines require health care workers to use face shield, gown or coverall, boot cover and double gloves. They should also wear hood to completely cover the head and neck. They also should put on waterproof apron if patient is vomiting or has diarrhea.

Other highlights of the revised guidelines include a designate area for putting on and taking off gear, trained monitor to supervise the putting on and removal of gear, and disinfectant wipes on contaminated gear before removing. Health care workers should also conduct repeated training for using protective gear.

In a related development, University of Minnesota officials in the U.S. are knocking down a tweet claiming its researchers say Ebola is airborne. A University spokesperson said that the university never made such a claim.

In fact, the tweet refers to a commentary posted a month ago on a university website that was written by Chicago-based researchers who were debating Ebola's "potential to be transmitted" to health workers by virus particles in the air, and thus what protective gear they should wear.

World health authorities have made clear that Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, and that blood, vomit and human waste carry the most viruses.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.

Some 100 million people were affected by natural disasters worldwide last year.

According to the new World Disasters Report, 340 natural disasters were reported across the world last year, the lowest number of disasters this decade.

Among those affected, over 80 percent live in Asia.

Deaths caused by natural disasters last year amounted to 22,500, which was greatly below the 98,000 average for the decade.

Flood remained the most frequent natural hazards, followed by storm, each accounted for more than 40 percent of deaths.

The report specified that two deadliest natural disasters last year were Typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines in November and a flood caused by monsoon rain in India in June last year. The two have claimed 8,000 and 6,000 lives respectively.

Worldwide, natural disasters cost almost 120 billion dollars last year.

The report says disaster risk reduction approaches must recognize why people are living with risks, for example living in places exposed to serious hazards including earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions, and how their behavior and attitudes related to culture affect their exposure and sensitivity to hazards.

You are listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.

An international team of scientists are drilling a 1.3-kilometer-deep hole into the Alpine Fault in New Zealand's South Island; and they are already gaining valuable insights into the Earth's crust less than a quarter of the way down.

The New Zealand-led team had drilled 240 meters, which was already the deepest borehole ever attempted in the fault.

The team has discovered that temperatures increase quite rapidly with depth, which tells a lot about how fluids circulate and warm up.

These measurements are important scientific findings in their own right, and they allow scientists to predict what they will encounter as they drill deeper.

The borehole will provide the scientific data required to improve understanding of the largest seismic hazard in the South Island.

It's also important to the international scientific community in terms of understanding how large faults work mechanically.