Members of the Democratic Republic of Congo's national football team must undergo a 21-day isolation period before entering the United States for the World Cup due to an Ebola outbreak in their home country. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, confirmed the measure on Friday.

“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 US. We cannot be any clearer.”

DRC is in Group K for this year’s World Cup in North America. Their first game is against Portugal on June 17 in Houston, followed by matches against Colombia on June 23 in Guadalajara, Mexico, and against Uzbekistan on June 27 in Atlanta.

All of DRC’s team members, along with French head coach Sebastien Desabre, are based outside the central African country. Most play professionally in Europe, including defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham United) and forward Yoane Wissa (Newcastle United) in England’s Premier League.

Giuliani said the US is not taking any chances when it comes to health and safety issues surrounding the World Cup. “We want to make sure that there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders here on this,” he stated.

Earlier this month, DRC confirmed an outbreak of a rare form of Ebola called Bundibugyo. More than 130 people have died among the nearly 600 suspected cases. The team cancelled its training camp in Kinshasa and relocated to Belgium, where they have a friendly scheduled against Denmark on June 3.

Source: www.aljazeera.com