Tournament organisers have calmed fears over the threat of Ebola at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The deadly virus has caused the death of thousands of people in west Africa and there have been concerns raised about the well-being of those involved in the biannual competition, which starts on Saturday.
Morocco was originally selected to play hosts, only to be stripped of the honour and disqualified from competing last November after requesting a postponement and failing to confirm their intention to stage this year's Africa Cup of Nations.
Subsequently, Equatorial Guinea got the nod as replacement hosts and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has insisted that all measures have been taken to ensure the safety of players and officials.
"There is an entire plan and entire programme put in place by the authorities of Equatorial Guinea," said Junior Binyam, CAF's media director.
"There has not been any case reported in this country or in any of the neighbouring countries.
"All the measures [have been] taken and we are working in accordance with the WHO [World Health Organisation] prescriptions.
"We hope we'll end up having this tournament without any major health issues as we ended qualifiers without any health issues."
Equatorial Guinea feature in the first match of the Africa Cup of Nations against Congo in Group A this weekend.
The deadly virus has caused the death of thousands of people in west Africa and there have been concerns raised about the well-being of those involved in the biannual competition, which starts on Saturday.
Morocco was originally selected to play hosts, only to be stripped of the honour and disqualified from competing last November after requesting a postponement and failing to confirm their intention to stage this year's Africa Cup of Nations.
Subsequently, Equatorial Guinea got the nod as replacement hosts and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has insisted that all measures have been taken to ensure the safety of players and officials.
"There is an entire plan and entire programme put in place by the authorities of Equatorial Guinea," said Junior Binyam, CAF's media director.
"There has not been any case reported in this country or in any of the neighbouring countries.
"All the measures [have been] taken and we are working in accordance with the WHO [World Health Organisation] prescriptions.
"We hope we'll end up having this tournament without any major health issues as we ended qualifiers without any health issues."
Equatorial Guinea feature in the first match of the Africa Cup of Nations against Congo in Group A this weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment