Congo is dealing with an outbreak of Ebola, and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, said the Congolese national soccer team must isolate if it wants to enter the United States for the global tournament.
The U.S. has told FIFA, the Congolese government and the national soccer team it must isolate for 21 days to enter the country for the World Cup. The team is training in Belgium and scheduled to play two warmup games there.
“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 11,” Giuliani told ESPN.
“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.
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“We want to make sure that there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders here on this.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been monitoring two American doctors who were in quarantine in Europe after being exposed to Ebola, Giuliani said. He said there have been discussions about sending staff to Belgium to check on the Congo team.
In Congo last week, there was a confirmed outbreak of Bundibugyo, a rare type of Ebola. It is thought to have killed more than 130 people among nearly 600 suspected cases.
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“If there are other people that are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team. If they end up coming, and any of those people end up symptomatic, they are risking the entire team being able to come and compete in this World Cup,” Giuliani said.
The CDC announced this week that all foreign nationals who had been in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan within the past three weeks would be banned from entry into the United States for 30 days.
The Congo canceled a planned farewell by the team to fans and a three-day World Cup preparation training camp on Wednesday.
Congo is in Group K and is scheduled to play Portugal in its opening game in Houston June 17. Its next two games are against Colombia in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 23, and Uzbekistan in Atlanta on June 27.
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