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CAF play down fears over Ebola threat at AFCON

The deadly virus has caused the death of thousands of people in west Africa and there have been concerns raised about the well-being of those involved in the biannual competition, which starts on Saturday. 

Morocco was originally selected to play hosts, only to be stripped of the honour and disqualified from competing last November after requesting a postponement and failing to confirm their intention to stage this year's Africa Cup of Nations. 

"There is an entire plan and entire programme put in place by the authorities of Equatorial Guinea," said Junior Binyam, CAF's media director. 

"There has not been any case reported in this country or in any of the neighbouring countries.

"All the measures [have been] taken and we are working in accordance with the WHO [World Health Organisation] prescriptions.

"We hope we'll end up having this tournament without any major health issues as we ended qualifiers without any health issues."

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