US to let DR Congo team in for World Cup despite Ebola restrictions
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) —The United States (US) will ensure that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) team are able to travel to play in the World Cup, making an exemption in an entry ban over Ebola, a US official said Tuesday.
“We expect the DRC team to be able to attend the World Cup,” a senior State Department official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has banned non-Americans who have been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days from visiting due to the deadly outbreak of Ebola.
The US official said the DR Congo team, the only one among the three countries to have qualified for soccer’s premier event, had already been training in Europe so may not have been subject to the ban in any case.
But if they in fact had been in DR Congo over the last 21 days, they will be subject to strict screening of the sort required for returning American citizens — not a complete ban.
“We’re working to get them into the same protocol for testing in isolation that American citizens returning and permanent residents would be,” the official said.
The official said that the exemption would not apply to ordinary fans from DR Congo looking to come to cheer on the team.
