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A man, left, walk past an Ebola awareness
campaign poster, in the city of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014.
(AP Photo/Sevi Herve Gbekide )
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Another
African Cup of Nations qualifier is in doubt because of the deadly Ebola virus
after
Côte d'Ivoire's football federation said Tuesday that it had been
instructed by its government to cancel or move next month's home game against
Sierra Leone, AP reports.
Côte d'Ivoire
has restrictions in place on travelers from Ebola-affected countries like
Sierra Leone. Over 1,400 people have now died in an outbreak of the deadly
virus in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and
Nigeria.
Côte d'Ivoire Football Federation spokesman Eric Kacou said the government had advised
that it would not allow the Sierra Leone team to enter for the Sept. 6 game in
the country's largest city, Abidjan, and other plans should be made.
"The
authorities are taking no chances," Kacou said.
Sierra
Leone is also still trying to find a venue for its home ties in the final round
of qualifying for next year's African Cup after the Confederation of African
Football said it won't allow any games to be played in Sierra Leone or Guinea —
two of the worst-hit Ebola countries — until mid-September at the earliest. Guinea
said it'll play its first qualifier in neutral Morocco. Liberia is not involved
in the qualifiers.
However,
Africa's top football body said other games should go ahead as planned. CAF
maintained that it is following advice from the World Health Organization,
which it said doesn't recommend a ban on travel to and from Ebola-affected
countries. On that advice, CAF still wants countries to travel to Nigeria to
play and allow travel by teams from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Other
countries are also concerned along with Côte d'Ivoire.
Republic
of Congo has expressed reservations over traveling to Nigeria — which has also
recorded Ebola deaths — for its opening game on Sept. 6 and wants that match
moved to another country.
Nigeria is the African Cup's defending champion.
The
qualifiers run from Sept. 5 to Nov. 19 and will decide the 15 teams to play
alongside host Morocco in Africa's top football tournament early next year.
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Liberian security forces with riot gear stop
people from leaving the West Point area, that has been hardest hit by the Ebola
virus spreading in Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Aug. 25, 2014. A Liberian doctor
who was among three Africans to receive an experimental Ebola drug has died,
the country's information minister said Monday.(AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)
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The
Ebola virus may have the "upper hand" in an outbreak that has killed
more than 1,400 people in West Africa but experts can stop the virus' spread, a
top American health official said at the start of his visit to the hardest-hit
countries.
Dr.
Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
was in Liberia on Tuesday, and later plans to stop in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Nigeria also has recorded cases, but officials there have expressed optimism
that its spread can be controlled.
"Lots
of hard work is happening, lots of good things are happening," Frieden
told a meeting attended by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday. "But
the virus still has the upper hand."
A
separate Ebola outbreak emerged over the weekend in Congo, though experts say
it is not related to the West African epidemic. Doctors Without Borders, which
is running many of the treatment centers in the West Africa outbreak, said it
was also sending experts and supplies to Equateur, a northwestern province of
Congo. But the medical charity has already warned that its resources already
were stretched.
"In
normal times, we're able to mobilize teams specializing in hemorrhagic fevers,
but currently we are facing an enormous epidemic in West Africa, limiting our
capacity to respond to the outbreak in Equateur province," said Jeroen
Beijnberger, the group's medical coordinator in Congo.
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