Africa Basketball League suspended on advice of hosts Senegal over covid-19

The coronavirus was confirmed in the Chinese city of Wuhan on January 7, 2020. Cases have since been confirmed in several other Asian countries, Europe and the United States.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has since declared it a public health emergency of international dimensions. WHO chief Tedros Ghebereyesus said whiles China had a robust health system to detect and control, his outfit remained concerned about the virus entering country’s with weak systems.

Almost all African governments have publicly put in place strict screening at points of entry especially airports. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ethiopia and Botswana have recorded suspected cases. All except Botswana have reported that the tests were negative. African airlines have cancelled scheduled flights to China except for Ethiopian Airlines.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.

The Basketball Africa League, which was supposed to start next week in Senegal, has been postponed over the coronavirus outbreak.

The cancellation was done after advice from the Senegalese government, which on Monday confirmed that a second person had tested positive for the coronavirus.

12 teams including Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia were scheduled to compete. The league is being organised in partnership of America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Senegal, which is hosting the competition, has confirmed two cases of coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed cases in Africa to 12.

The other countries affected are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.