The Democratic Republic of Congo has said it will not change its World Cup preparations despite a warning from the United States that the national team must remain in isolation for 21 days before arriving in the country.
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According to The Guardian, Andrew Giuliani, Executive Director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, said US officials had informed FIFA, the DR Congo team and the government in Kinshasa that the squad must maintain a strict biosecurity bubble in Belgium, where the players are currently training, due to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the country.
“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 through the US Department of Homeland Security, Giuliani said the priority of US authorities was the “safety and security of the American people, participating teams, and millions of fans.”
US officials said this week that the DR Congo squad would be exempted from a travel ban temporarily barring entry into the United States for non-Americans who have been in DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the previous 21 days.
However, the exemption is tied to the team maintaining its isolation bubble before travelling to the US.
“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 added.
Despite the warning, a spokesperson for the DR Congo national team said there was no change to the team’s schedule.
The team is expected to play Denmark in a friendly match in Liège on June 3 before facing Chile in Cádiz six days later.
“We have kept our training programme. No player in the squad has come from DRC,” the official said.
The entire playing squad is based outside DR Congo, mostly in Europe, while the head coach, Sébastien Desabre, is also based abroad.
However, a few team officials reportedly arrived at the training camp in Belgium from DR Congo this week.
The team had earlier planned a three-day trip to Kinshasa next week as a celebratory send-off before heading to the World Cup, but the visit has now been cancelled.
The World Health Organization on Friday raised the risk of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola spreading into a national outbreak in DR Congo to “very high.”
The strain has no approved vaccines or treatments. WHO has also declared the outbreak in DR Congo and neighbouring Uganda an emergency of international concern.
According to WHO figures, DR Congo has recorded 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths, while suspected cases have risen to almost 750, with 177 suspected deaths.
DR Congo qualified for the World Cup for only the second time in their history. Their first appearance was in 1974, when the country competed as Zaire.
The team is expected to be based in Houston during the tournament and will play its first Group K match against Portugal on June 17.
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