The Democratic Republic of the Congo will not alter their World Cup preparations despite warnings from the United States that the team must remain isolated for 21 days before entering the country due to the Ebola outbreak in the African nation, according to The Guardian.
Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, told ESPN that US authorities had informed FIFA, the DR Congo team and the government in Kinshasa that the squad must stay inside a secure bubble in Belgium, where they are currently training.
“We’ve been very clear to Congo that they should maintain the integrity of their bubble for 21 days before they can then come to Houston on June 11th,” Giuliani said. “We’ve made it very clear to the Congo government as well, that they need to maintain that bubble or they risk not being able to travel to the United States. We cannot be any clearer. We want to make sure there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders.”
In a separate statement sent to AFP by the US Department of Homeland Security, Giuliani stressed that the “safety and security of the American people, participating teams, and millions of fans” remained the top priority.
US officials confirmed earlier this week that the DR Congo squad would be exempt from a temporary travel ban affecting non-Americans who had recently visited DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.
“We encourage the team to protect their players from unneeded exposure and maintain the integrity of their bubble to ensure that they are able to participate in the tournament,” Giuliani said.
Despite the warning, a spokesperson for the DR Congo team insisted there would be no adjustment to the team’s schedule, which includes friendly matches against Denmark in Liège on June 3 and Chile in Cádiz six days later.
“We have kept our training programme. No player in the squad has come from DRC,” the official said.
Most members of the squad, including head coach Sébastien Desabre, are based in Europe, while a small number of team officials travelled from DR Congo to Belgium earlier this week.
The team had initially planned a three-day visit to Kinshasa next week as part of a celebratory send-off ahead of their first World Cup appearance in 52 years, but the trip has now been cancelled.
The World Health Organization on Friday upgraded the risk level of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola spreading across DR Congo to “very high”, describing the situation in DR Congo and neighbouring Uganda as an international health emergency.
The WHO reported 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths in DR Congo, alongside nearly 750 suspected infections and 177 suspected deaths.
DR Congo have qualified for the World Cup for only the second time in their history after previously appearing in the 1974 tournament when the country competed as Zaire.
The team are expected to camp in Houston during the competition and will begin their Group K campaign against Portugal on June 17.
