Congo’s soccer team have been told to isolate for 21 days or risk being denied entry to the US for this summer’s World Cup amid an Ebola virus outbreak in the country.
Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, revealed to ESPN on Friday that the US has told FIFA, the Congolese national team and its government that any members of the squad must maintain a bubble in Belgium, where they are currently training ahead of two warmup games.
Congo were recently forced to cancel a pre-World Cup training camp in their capital city, Kinshasa, weeks before they are due to travel to the US due to the Ebola outbreak.
The virus has broken out in the eastern region of the African country, with 600 suspected cases and 139 deaths in DR Congo reported.
‘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.’
White House World Cup boss Andrew Giuliani has told Congo to isolate before arriving in the US for this summer’s tournament
The Congo team must maintain a bubble in Belgium for 21 days or risk being denied entry
Giuliani added: ‘We want to make sure that there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders here on this.’
Congo’s opening World Cup game against Portugal is scheduled to take place in Houston on June 17.
Six days later they are due to face Colombia in the Mexican city of Zapopan, before heading to Atlanta to take on Uzbekistan in their final group outing on June 27.
Congo’s player and their French coach Sebastien Desabre are based outside of the country, with most of them playing in France. Some staff members based in Congo also left the country this week.
‘If there are other people that are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team. If they end up coming, and any of those people end up symptomatic, they are risking the entire team being able to come and compete in this World Cup,’ Giuliani said.
Donald Trump’s World Cup chief also explained how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has staff in Europe monitoring two American doctors in quarantine after they were exposed to Ebola.
