Following the spread of COVID-19 in the Oceania and advice from the Vanuatu Government and consultation with Oceania Football Confederation, FIFA and VASANOC, Vanuatu Football Federation announced that they are shutting down all football activities for 30 days starting March 20th.
In a media release this week, VFF Secretary General Albert Manaroto outlined all the activities and programmes that are be suspended for the next 30 days which includes training camps for national teams and scouting programmes, Just Play throughout the country, inter-island travels for VFF executives, development officers and MA administrators moving for football reasons.
“You are all hereby advised that in light of the increasing number of coronavirus cases within Oceania and especially our neighboring countries of Fiji and New Caledonia, VFF has had consultations with OFC and FIFA, in which the VFF has been informed that planned international competitions are now suspended”, he stated.
“The VFF is mindful that football games do gather a lot of people, which is advised against in the prevention of coronavirus and this has also the advice provided by Government Task Force”.
Travel advisories by the government has prompt Air Vanuatu to cut its international flights by 80%.
The OFC Champions League draw has been postponed and all National Team travels are suspended with international travels for VFF Executive Members and staff on official football related matters are suspended.
According to World Health Organisation, COVID-19 also known as Coronavirus disease comes from a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and COVID-19 is a new strain that was discovered in 2019 and has not been previously identified in humans.
Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
At present, there are no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Vanuatu, but there are cases now in French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Guam.
Secretary General Manaroto also instructed all the Vanuatu football staff to work from home.
