London. All teams arriving in Equatorial Guinea for the African Nations Cup must travel through the capital Malabo and have tests for the Ebola virus, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said yesterday.
Those who show any signs of the contagious virus, or who refused to be examined, could be quarantined for up to 21 days.
“Everyone arriving at the Nations Cup must respect the medical rules and regulations,” CAF said in a statement.
The tough regulations reflect fears of the spread of the deadly haemorrhagic fever that led Morocco to ask for a postponement of the 16-team tournament.
Instead they were stripped of their hosting rights and Equatorial Guinea stepped in at the last moment to take over.
The worst epidemic of the virus on record has killed more than 8,371 people and infected 21,171 in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to World Health Organization figures released on Monday.
Guinea are competing at the Nations Cup but the other two countries not.
The demands for the medical check have led Tunisia to cancel plans to have a warm-up game in neighbouring Gabon.
They said it would be too taxing on team logistics to travel to Gabon for the match and then to Malabo for the health checks.
Tunisia had originally planned to travel straight to the small eastern town of Ebebiyin where they will be based.
The Nations Cup kicks off on Saturday and ends on February 8.
Ivory Coast injuries
Meanwhile Max Gradel and Cheick Tiote are the latest injury worries for Ivory Coast.
The Elephants have been hit with these new injury worries ahead of the kickoff of the Africa Cup of Nations this weekend. The two got knocks during their team’s 1-0 win over Nigeria on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
But team doctors say they could be fit for the start of the tournament.
Tiote injured his thigh while Gradel hurt his ankle and they look set to miss the Elephants’ next pre-Afcon friendly against Sweden on Thursday.
They join Seydou Doumbia and Wilfried Bony who will also miss the friendly match but the four players will still travel to the Afcon on the January 16.
Ivory Coast are in Group D with Guinea (whom they play in their opening group match on January 20), Mali and Cameroon.
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