Congo forced to cancel World Cup training camp, events over Ebola outbreak – National
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) soccer team has canceled a three-day World Cup preparation camp and farewell program in the capital Kinshasa due to the outbreak of Ebola in the east of the country.
The World Health Organization declared an outbreak of Ebola caused by a rare virus in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, with at least 139 suspected deaths and more than 600 suspected cases.
Congo is scheduled to play World Cup warm-up games against Denmark in Liege, Belgium, on June 3 and Chile in southern Spain on June 9. Both games are going ahead as scheduled, team spokesperson Jerry Kalemo told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
“There were three stages of preparation: in Kinshasa to say goodbye to the public, Belgium and Spain, with two friendly matches with Denmark in Liege and Chile in Spain and the third stage from June 11 in Houston, United States. Only one stage has been canceled – in Kinshasa,” said Kalemo.
The Congolese players and the coach of the French team, Sébastien Desabre, are based outside the central African country, most of them playing in France.
Khalemo said some of the team’s staff based in Congo “will leave in the next few hours” on Wednesday.
A FIFA spokesperson told the New York Times that the organization is “aware of and monitoring the situation regarding the Ebola outbreak and is in contact with the Congo DR Football Association to ensure the team is informed of all health and safety guidance.”
The White House World Cup task force, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, told the Associated Press that it is “coordinating closely” with various agencies on health and safety issues and that the government is “closely monitoring” the outbreak.
The US government implemented a public health emergency
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that the US will block the entry of all foreigners who have been in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan in the past three weeks. The ban lasts for 30 days.
“It is currently confined to Africa but it is something that has broken out,” said US President Donald Trump about the Ebola outbreak on Monday while speaking to the media.
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An American official told the Associated Press that the Congolese World Cup team will not be affected by the CDC’s entry ban because they have been training in Europe for the past few weeks.
Members of Congo’s World Cup team who return to Congo within a 21-day period will be subject to the same quarantine requirements as US citizens seeking to return from affected countries, according to a US official.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada currently has no plans to implement a travel ban but is closely monitoring the situation.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said it will continue to use appropriate health measures if the case is brought into Canada. It will also work with international and domestic partners from the provinces and territories to inform their response and protect the health of Canadians.
Ebola is a serious, often fatal disease that affects humans and other domestic animals, according to the WHO.
The virus spreads to humans from wild animals, such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates, including gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzees, and then spreads between humans through direct contact with the blood, body parts or other body fluids of infected individuals and through surfaces and materials, such as clothing and bedding, that have been contaminated with the fluid.
Bundibugyo virus was first detected in Uganda’s Bundibugyo region during the 2007-08 violence that infected 149 people and killed 37. The second was in 2012, in an outbreak in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.
The virus is spread in the same way as other Ebola viruses: through close contact with bodily fluids of sick or deceased patients, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Health workers and family members who care for sick patients face the greatest risk, experts say.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease doctor, told Global National that the virus is spread through direct contact with body fluids, which reduces the chances of infection compared to airborne viruses.
“We have seen measles imported into Canada and other infectious diseases, but I think the risk of Ebola would be very small, but it will not be zero percent,” said Bogoch.
The Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that there are almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, and he expects those numbers to continue to rise.
He said he determined that the situation “is not an epidemic emergency, which is the new and highest category under the Revised International Health Regulations.”
Limited tools are available for diagnosis and prevention goals
Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease doctor, told Global News that health officials around the world are concerned about the conditions in which the Ebola outbreak is occurring.
“There is a high risk of cross-border spread between the DRC and Uganda. The actual rate of the outbreak is greater than our current estimate due to the continuous spread over the past few weeks, the delay in detection and all the uncertainty and instability in that area,” said Vinh, adding that the regional problem has the potential to expand further.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is different from the Zaire strain, and the current outbreak has limited tools available for diagnosis and public health containment measures, according to Vinh.
“Why that is important is because the tools designed to diagnose the Zaire strain do not necessarily work for the Bundibugyo strain. The vaccines developed for the Zaire strain are also not predicted to work for the Bundibugyo strain,” he said.
He said the incubation period for the Bundibugyo strain ranges from two days to three weeks, which should not affect those players participating in the World Cup.
“Usually, it’s four to 10 days, so it’s unlikely that people will be able to participate or as players in this level of international football while infected, but they can have symptoms after traveling and they can transmit after having symptoms,” said Vinh.
“That is where we should be concerned … not the FIFA World Cup as it is a global tour anywhere in the world during the incubation period,” he added.
Vinh also noted the “very fragile health care system” in the DRC and Uganda, where the outbreak is taking place.
“This is a concern that we must take seriously. All these factors added to the fact that there was little interest in trying to provide a global health security blanket, admittedly, [for] American funding to deal with these types of outbreaks in low-income countries,” continued Vinh.
“It has paralyzed some of the measures that can be taken immediately and that is why there is a need now for a public health emergency declaration by the WHO.”
He said if we can go through two incubation periods without new cases, then the outbreak will be under control.
“It has been done before. It must be done again. But this is an indication that we cannot just react every time when violence breaks out. We really need to stand up for the whole world to prevent these things from happening because if they happen in someone else’s backyard, they can move to our front yard,” added Vinh.
On Wednesday, the WHO director-general said there were several factors that “warrant serious concern about further spread and additional deaths.”
“First of all, beyond the confirmed cases of Ebola, there are about 600 people suspected of killing 139 people.
The epidemic is increasing again, as cases have been reported in many urban areas, according to Ghebreyesus.
“The death of health workers has been reported, indicating a health care-related infection,” he said, adding that “there is a large movement of people in the area.”
“The province of Ituri is very insecure. The conflict has been intense since late 2025, and the fighting has intensified in the last two months, as more than 100,000 people have recently been displaced,” Ghebreyesus continued. “This area is also a minefield, with a high level of human movement which increases the risk of contagion.”
-via files from the Associated Press
