CAF Advises members on security measures, sends delegation to Cameroon

African football governing body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) has advised its members to adopt preventive measures during games as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues spread across the world.

CAF, which said it would continue with its scheduled programmes while monitoring the COVID-19 situation across the continent, endorsed the measures already adopted by some of its members.

In a statement made available to The Guardian, CAF Said: “CAF wishes to inform member associations and the entire African football family that we are closely monitoring the evolution of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) around the world and in particular the African continent.

“According to World Health Organization (WHO), no African country till date has been declared a high risk.

“Consequently, CAF has decided to maintain the schedule of all competitions. Also, CAF has been informed of the restrictive measures taken by the authorities of some Member Associations and is in contact to find solutions on a case-by-case basis, with the option of the organization of matches behind closed doors.”

The African body also revealed that it would send a delegation to Cameroon, host of the 2020 Total African Nations Championship (CHAN) to assess the preventive measure put in place by the country.

It added, “The delegation from the CAF Medical Committee is scheduled to visit Cameroun from March 14 to 15 2020. The purpose of this mission is to assess all the preventive measures taken by the Local Organizing Committee.”

Nigeria did qualify for the CHAN, which Cameroon will host from April 4 to 25, 2020.

Meanwhile, English club, Arsenal, have revealed that they would not test any of their players or staff for the Coronavirus, which forced them to postpone their Premiership clash with Man City yesterday.

The Match was cancelled after Olympiakos owner, Evangelos Marinakis said he had contracted the virus. Marinakis attended Olympiakos Europa League match at Arsenal on February 27.

The BBC reported yesterday that less than five Arsenal players were in self-isolation, having had contact with Marinakis in the tunnel after that match.

Some of the staff are also on self-isolation as they sat close to the Greek during the game.

The players self-solation expires today, meaning their EPL game against Brighton will go on as scheduled.