The spread of a new COVID-19 variant in Africa has generated doubts around whether Cameroon can host the tournament.
The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 has spread rapidly across Africa. Scientists suggest the new variant has started spreading from South Africa, reaching several African and European countries.
The United Kingdom added Nigeria to its travel blacklist earlier this week. Nigeria is a neighbour of Cameroon, which will host the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.
The spread of the new variant in Nigeria has generated doubts about the possibility of moving the AFONs elsewhere. Many observers have suggested Qatar could potentially host the continental tournament.
However, the Confederation of African Football has dismissed the rumours about planning to move the AFCON tournament.
CAF’s director of communications Alex Siewe told BBC: “We can’t keep spending time dealing with rumours,
“We did not receive any other message or information from our leaders – nothing such as changing of dates or countries.
We did not discuss such during all our last meetings.
He added: “We are on site. We are working.”
“An official delegation from Caf has been released and general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba is joining us in two days.”
AFCON 2021 will kick off on 9 January in Yaounde, with Cameroon facing Burkina Faso in the opening game.
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