The ministries of Health and of Youth and Sports, in a joint executive decree no. 50/21, published in the Official Gazette and to which Lusa had access on Tuesday, justify the measure because the practice of competitive sports, collective and individual, in Angola or abroad, constitutes a potential risk of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
According to the decree, sports teams may adopt the method of confinement in a Sports Bubble, a form of "confinement in restricted groups with social interaction among its members," with a total number of up to 50 people.
The Sports Bubble is aimed at national and foreign high-level sports groups with "suspected or confirmed contact with one of the variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus" and that "inherent to their activities require regular sports interaction among their members.
According to the decree, this confinement regime must be requested by the interested institution to the Ministry of Health.
Angola, which already has the new South African and British SARS-CoV-2 variants, counts 21,108 positive cases of covid-19, being 515 deaths, 19,657 recovered and 936 active cases.
Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta said Monday at a press conference that seven cases of the South African variant, including one detected in a Tanzanian sports team, and six of the English variant have been recorded.
Access to the Sports Bubble, a measure that must be implemented while the public calamity situation, whose ninth extension is in progress, is in effect, depends on the presentation of the RT-PCR test, with a negative result for SARS-CoV-2 up to 72 hours before admission.
"Entry into the national territory of any sports caravan without pre-embarkation testing valid for up to 72 hours is prohibited. Post-departure testing is mandatory for all domestic or foreign sports caravans," the document notes.
In case of a positive test for any of the participants in a sports caravan coming from a country where one of the new SARS-CoV-2 strains circulates, "the planned sporting activity will be suspended.
Foreign sports agents who test positive, it is underlined in the joint executive decree, "must comply with institutional isolation in Angolan territory, except if there are special transport conditions.
The authorities also consider that the confinement in Sports Bubble lasts up to ten days, if all members have tested negative, and the responsibility for financial costs lies with the respective requesting institution.
The decree, signed by the ministers Silvia Lutucuta and Ana Paula do Sacramento, also sanctions with a fine ranging from 250,000 kwanzas to 500,000 kwanzas the violation of the confinement in Bolha Desportiva.
