AFCON – African football governing body, Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said only vaccinated supporters will be allowed into the stadiums.
It has also pegged the fans’ attendance at stadiums to specific percentages depending on the team on parade.
Games involving hosts Cameroon at the AFCON will see 80% of the official stadium capacity being given out to fans while other countries’ games will only have 60% of the official stadium capacity.
Fans in attendance for the games must be fully vaccinated and present a negative test result in order to attend games.
“Caf will continue to monitor the situation and the evolution of the health conditions and adapt measures if needs be, ” the governing body said in an official statement.
The resolution came after a meeting with CAF officials and the Local Organising Committee, as they agreed to enforce strict health protocols.
Cameroon has fully vaccinated just 2.4% of its population according to figures from Our World In Data. Africa, in general has vaccinated just about 6% of the entire population.
The possibility of health protocol on ground has left doubts in the air with the majority of fans to attend the game not sure to have been fully vaccinated. Even if majority of them are desirous of getting their jabs, Cameroon has hardly gotten a good amount of vaccines to go round.
“Earlier in December, CAF and Cameroon government agreed on strict health protocols that will be followed including the fact that only vaccinated supporters will be allowed inside the match venues. All the parties are still fully committed to the implementation of the agreement including other sanitary protocols that have been adopted, ” CAF said in a statement.
Cases of COVID-19 are being reported in camps of participating nations with Senegal recording three cases and Tunisia also recording some players’ infections. President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick also revealed on Monday that at least five players tested positive for COVID-19 but four of them have recovered.
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The 2021 AFCON is late by a year as a result of COVID-19 but will kick start on the 9th of January with a top clash between hosts Cameroon and the Stallions of Burkina Faso.