The Democratic Republic of the Congo national football team has canceled a three-day training camp in preparation for the World Cup and a farewell ceremony for fans in the capital, Kinshasa, due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the east of the country.
The World Health Organization declared Sunday that the Ebola outbreak caused by a rare virus in Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, with at least 139 suspected deaths and more than 600 suspected cases.
Congo is scheduled to play two World Cup preparation matches against Denmark in Liège, Belgium on June 3 and Chile in southern Spain on June 9. National team spokesman Jerry Kalimo told The Associated Press on Wednesday that both games will be played as planned.
“There were three stages of preparation: in Kinshasa to say goodbye to the fans, Belgium and Spain, with two friendly matches against Denmark in Liège and Chile in Spain and the third stage on June 11 in Houston in the United States. Only one stage was cancelled – the one in Kinshasa,” Kalimo said.
The Congolese players and the French team’s coach, Sebastien Desabre, reside outside the central African country, and most of them play in France.
Some team members stationed in Congo “will leave in the coming hours” on Wednesday, Kalimo said.
FIFA spokesman He told the New York Times He added that the organization “is aware of and monitoring the situation regarding the Ebola outbreak, and is in close contact with the Football Federation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure that the team is aware of all medical and security guidelines.”
The White House task force, under the Department of Homeland Security, told The Associated Press that it is “coordinating closely” with various agencies on health and security matters and that the government is “closely monitoring” the outbreak.
The US government has activated a public health emergency rule
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that the United States will ban the entry of all foreign nationals who have been in Congo, Uganda and South Sudan within the past three weeks. The ban lasts for 30 days.
“It’s now confined to Africa, but it’s something that has spread,” US President Donald Trump said of the Ebola outbreak on Monday while speaking to the press.
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A US official told The Associated Press that the Congolese World Cup team would not be affected by the CDC entry ban because it had been training in Europe for the past few weeks.
The U.S. official said members of the Congolese World Cup delegation who return to Congo within a 21-day period will be subject to the same quarantine requirements as U.S. citizens seeking to return from affected countries.
Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Canada currently has no plans to implement the travel ban but is monitoring the situation closely.
Public Health Agency of Canada It said it would continue to implement appropriate health protocols If the case is imported into Canada. It will also work with international and local provincial and territorial partners to guide their response and protect the health of Canadians.
Ebola is a serious and often fatal disease that infects humans and other primates. According to the World Health Organization.
The virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals, such as fruit bats and porcupines, and non-human primates, including gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzees, and then spreads between humans through direct contact with the blood, organs or other body fluids of infected people and with surfaces and materials, such as clothing and bedding, contaminated with the fluids.
Bundibugyo virus was first detected in the Bundibugyo district of Uganda during a 2007-2008 outbreak that infected 149 people and killed 37 others. The second time was in 2012, in an outbreak in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.
The virus spreads in the same way as other Ebola viruses: through close contact with bodily fluids of sick or deceased people, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Experts said that health care workers and family members who care for patients face the highest risks.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, making it less likely to be transmitted compared to airborne viruses, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease physician, told Global National.
“We have seen measles and other infectious diseases imported into Canada, but I think the risk of contracting Ebola will be very small, but of course not zero percent,” Bogoch said.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that there are nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, and these numbers are expected to continue to increase.
He said he had determined that the situation “is not an epidemiological emergency, which is the new and highest classification under the revised International Health Regulations.”
Limited tools available for diagnosis and vaccines needed for containment
Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease physician, told Global News that global health officials are concerned about the conditions under which the Ebola outbreak is unfolding.
“There is a high risk of the disease spreading across the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The true scale of the outbreak is likely to be larger than our current estimates due to continued transmission in the past few weeks, delayed detection and all the uncertainty and instability in that region,” Vinh said, adding that the regional problem has the potential to expand further.
The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is different from the Zaire strain, and the diagnostic tools and vaccines available for public health containment are very limited, according to Vinh.
“The reason this is important is that the tools developed to diagnose the Zaire strain do not necessarily work for the Bundibugyo strain. Vaccines developed for the Zaire strain are also not expected to work with the Bundibugyo strain,” he said.
He said the incubation period for the Bundibugyo strain ranges from two days to three weeks, which should not affect players participating in the World Cup.
“Normally, it takes about four to 10 days, so it is unlikely that people will be able to participate as participants or as players in this international football stage while they are infected, but they certainly can develop symptoms after traveling and they can transmit the infection after they develop symptoms,” Vinh said.
He added: “This is what we should be concerned about… not so much the FIFA World Cup, but global travel to anywhere around the world during the incubation period.”
Vinh also pointed to the “extremely fragile healthcare system” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, where the outbreaks are occurring.
“This is a concern that we have to take very seriously,” Vinh continued. “All of these factors are exacerbated by the fact that there has been limited interest in trying to provide a global health safety blanket, admittedly, (for) US funding to deal with these types of outbreaks in low-income countries.”
“It has hampered some measures that could be implemented quickly, which is why a public health emergency declaration by the World Health Organization is now needed.”
He said that if we can get through the two incubation periods without any new cases, then the outbreak will be under control.
“It’s been done before. It needs to be done again. But this really reflects that we can’t just react every time there’s an outbreak. We really need to be globally proactive to prevent these things from happening because if they happen in someone else’s backyard, they can spread to our front yard,” Vinh added.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that there are several factors that “require serious concern about the possibility of the disease spreading and more deaths.”
“First, in addition to the confirmed Ebola cases, there are approximately 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths. We expect these numbers to continue to increase, given the amount of time the virus had been circulating before the outbreak was detected,” he added.
The epidemic has also spread, with cases reported in several urban areas, according to Ghebreyesus.
“Deaths among health workers have been reported, indicating healthcare-associated transmission,” he said, adding that there was “significant population movement in the area.”
“Ituri County is highly unsafe,” Ghebreyesus continued. “The conflict has intensified since late 2025, and fighting has escalated dramatically over the past two months, with more than 100,000 new people displaced.” “The area is also a mining area, with high levels of population movement increasing the risk of further spread of the disease.”
-With files from The Associated Press
