The federal government in Brazil says it is releasing additional funding to beef up security ahead of next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, BBC News reports. However, the threat may not be as alarming as one might think.
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People from those countries don’t typically travel to Zika-affected countries, except for the Olympic Games, and environmental conditions in those countries make them susceptible to Zika transmission.
Non-functioning toilets and an absence of cleaners were among the key gripes of 300 police who stood on the steps of the Rio de Janeiro state assembly to raise their concerns.
Pavey’s Olympic bid has been hampered by a chest infection and going into the Europeans her chances looked bleak, but a brilliant run in the Dutch capital – the fastest by a Briton over 10,000m this year – earned her the qualifying time and a seat on the plane to Rio.
The Zika virus is relatively new to the Western Hemisphere, particularly in Brazil, which has faced the brunt of the outbreak that surfaced in 2015. The site saw a spike in searches in January and saw its most dramatic increase in May, well after Zika was entrenched in South America. Of the the remaining 167 countries without a CDC warning, 148 were also taken out of consideration for potential risk due to either the country’s history of previously having the disease or the inability of its environment to foster the disease’s transmission.
“Track and field is one of the showpiece sports of an Olympic Games and in these 80 athletes we have a team full of the ability, pedigree and experience to match the spectacle”, said Team GB chef de mission Mark England.
“Brazil is a country of 200 million people in which fewer than 20,000 are registered golfers”.
Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus which has spread to many countries in the Americas. Though the virus has slowly been spreading throughout the Americas, it is mainly concentrated in Brazil. The WHO has advised pregnant women not to travel to Zika areas.
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The danger is that infected travelers might be bitten by mosquitoes after return to their home nations, which would potentially spread Zika to other people and spark an outbreak.
