The White House has told Congo\u2019s national soccer team to isolate for three weeks in Belgium before it can enter the United States to take part in this year\u2019s World Cup, citing the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to maintain that bubble, or they risk not being able to travel to the United States,\u201d Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026, told ESPN on Friday. \u201cWe cannot be any clearer.\u201d<\/p>\n
An outbreak of the Ebola virus centered in Congo is suspected to have caused more than 170 deaths and about 750 infections, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak is spreading quickly, the organization said, and could be worse than initial figures suggested.<\/p>\n
The WHO has assessed the risk as high at the national and regional levels and low at the global level.<\/p>\n
The disease broke out in an area where years of conflict have displaced more than 1 million people and eroded healthcare capacity, allowing a rare form of the virus to circulate undetected for weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are taking this extremely seriously,\u201d Giuliani said in the ESPN interview.<\/p>\n
The Congolese players had already arrived in Belgium, Giuliani said, adding that most of them were already based in Europe. Other members of the delegation have traveled from Congo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been very clear to FIFA, we\u2019ve 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are other people that are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team,\u201d Giuliani said. If anyone had symptoms, he added, that would jeopardize the entire team\u2019s ability to take part in the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Congo\u2019s first match of the tournament is scheduled for June 17 in Houston, against Portugal. Congo this week canceled its training camp in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, because of the outbreak.<\/p>\n