IOC, local officials confident that Zika outbreak won’t ruin Rio Games

CIFP, which was founded by UNESCO and a group of global sports governing bodies in 1963 with the goal of promoting of good sporting conduct around the world, has launched its Rio 2016 Fair Play Awards in partnership with the worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Our delegation is taking the recommended proper precautions including wearing proper clothing, using mosquito repellent and nets”, Tamara Medwidsky told The Canadian Press in an e-mail Thursday.

“We remain confident that there will be a safe environment for successful and enjoyable Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro”, they said in the statement.

“The International Olympic Committee is closely monitoring the situation with Zika in Brazil”, Erdener said.

Every Olympics has its share of pre-Games anxieties, but even by usual standards this Rio 2016 checklist is getting pretty lengthy.

Brazil’s Health Ministry said in November that Zika is linked to a foetal deformation known as microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and brains. When they return to the Northern Hemisphere and its summer heat, far more mosquitoes will be around to potentially transmit the virus in the US.

Bach praised progress in Brazil’s Olympic preparations despite the country’s serious financial downturn and outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

The iconic Olympic torch will also pass through a refugee camp in Athens on its way to Rio de Janeiro.

“We want to turn the attention of the world to the fate and the problems of the 60 million refugees in our world and their suffering”, Bach said.

Governments and health agencies, including the World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, have cautioned pregnant women to consult physicians before they travel to affected countries.

They are a Syrian swimmer now training in Germany, a Congolese judoka who found refuge in Brazil and an Iranian taekwondo athlete in Belgium, the International Olympic Committee said.

The IOC noted that plans had already been put in place by Brazilian organizers for daily inspection of Olympic venues to remove any puddles of stagnant water where mosquitoes breed. She said that about 15 percent of her clients who had booked trips for the Olympics had called in recent days to ask about the Zika virus and the possibility of modifying their trips. Symptoms for people who contract the virus include fever, headache, conjunctivitis, rash, and joint and muscle pain.