The Democratic Republic of Congo has cancelled its pre-World Cup training camp in the capital, Kinshasa, because of an Ebola outbreak in the east of the country.
The virus is thought to have killed more than 130, including a person whose case was confirmed on Thursday in the South Kivu province, signalling the spread of the virus from the outbreak’s epicentre.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern”, but said it was not at pandemic level.
A spokesperson for DR Congo’s football team told reporters that the training camp, part of the preparations for the team’s first World Cup since 1974, would now take place in Belgium.
Jerry Kalemo added that DR Congo’s pre-tournament games in Europe would go ahead as planned.
The Leopards are due to play friendly matches against Denmark, on 3 June in Belgium, and Chile, on 9 June in Spain, ahead of the World Cup finals.
They play their first match of the tournament in the US city of Houston on 17 June against Portugal.
“Originally scheduled to take place in the capital on May 26, the Leopards’ public training session will not be held after all. This decision follows reports of suspected Ebola cases in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri,” a message posted by the team on social media said.
There is also uncertainty over whether the team’s French coach, Sébastien Desabre, will go ahead with a press conference scheduled to take place in the capital city, the statement added.
A spokesperson for the DR Congo team told the Reuters news agency that the training camp had been cancelled due to travel restrictions imposed by the US, who are hosting the World Cup this summer, along with Mexico and Canada.
The US’s public health agency has banned entry from non-Americans who have been in the DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, in response to the Ebola outbreak.
All DR Congo’s players are based outside the central African country and will therefore not be affected by the restrictions now the training camp has been cancelled.
Some team staff based in DR Congo left the country on Wednesday, Kalemo told the Associated Press, ahead of the 21-day deadline.
However, some fans and journalists, who applied for US visas via the Congolese ministry of sport, are concerned because the US embassy in DR Congo has paused its visa services in light of the Ebola outbreak.
A sports reporter from the national broadcaster questioned why they should be stopped from attending the World Cup when there have not yet been any reported Ebola cases where they are based, in Kinshasa.
