By Mark Baber
August 12 – Togo have asked the Confederation of African Football to move their qualifying game against Guinea, scheduled for September 5 or 6 to a location outside of Guinea, due to fears over the Ebola virus.
Although transmission of the Ebola virus requires contact with bodily fluid from an infected person or contact with an object contaminated with this fluid, the current outbreak is the biggest on record and is causing fears around Africa. Between 60 and 90% of victims of Ebola do not survive and more than 1,000 people have died so far in this outbreak which is effecting people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
The Togo Football Federation (TFF) said: “We are scared by the situation,” and that they will would follow advice from their government.
Seychelles have already cancelled an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone, with the Seychelles FA choosing to forfeit the match and exit the competition, after their immigration authorities prevented the Sierra Leone squad from entering the country.
Sierra Leone has announced that it would like to play its home matches in Ghana, with Ghana’s FA awaiting advice from the government’s foreign ministry and ministry of health.
The Confederation of African Football has yet to rule on the requests from Togo and Sierra Leone, with Sierra Leone due to play Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Congo in the last round of qualifying.
The virus is only infectious after people show symptoms, but people are understandably nervous about travelling to areas most affected by the disease.
According to the UK Foreign Office “An outbreak of Ebola virus disease has been confirmed in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Some airlines have suspended flights to these countries due to the deteriorating public health situation. You should carefully assess your need to travel to these countries. If you do decide to travel, you should make sure you have adequate arrangements in place for onward travel/exit and have adequate emergency health provision.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a statement, declaring the Ebola outbreak a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ but saying there should be recommendation that there should be “no general ban on international travel or trade.”
The recommendations of the Foreign Office include avoiding contact with symptomatic patients and their bodily fluids, avoiding contact with corpses and/or bodily fluids from deceased patients, avoiding close contact with live or dead wild animals, avoiding consumption of “bush meat,” practicing safe sex and following strict hand washing routines.
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