Burundi want Caf action over March qualifiers because of coronavirus

The Confederation of African Football has said it is to 'maintain the schedule' of all its competitions

Burundi's football federation is the latest to appeal to the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to take action over this month's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Burundi said on Friday they will not be calling up any players from Europe for their designated matches against Mauritania on 25 and 29 March.

"This measure is taken because of the 14 days (of quarantine) needed to enter Burundi, after having been in (Europe)," Burundi's federation said in a statement.

"The federation calls on Caf to analyse the measures needed to allow the participation of all eligible players in these matches."

Burundi follows The Gambia in complaining about the possibility of being forced to play games when some first-team players are ineligible for selection.

Seven of The Gambia's squad are based in Italy, which is currently undergoing a lockdown in a bid to contain the outbreak of the pandemic.

Kenya - which has barred sports competitors from travelling abroad - has also appealed to Caf, which has told the BBC that a statement is likely to follow on Friday, and possibly Saturday too.

A raft of sporting events have already been cancelled across the world, but Caf has stated that it will 'maintain its schedule' until an African country is declared high-risk.

The continent has some 48 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, in a similar number of countries, scheduled for the end of the month.

So far, 16 African nations have reported the presence of coronavirus - with all the cases coming from travellers from Europe and the United States.

Significant numbers of players in African squads are based in Europe, with 34 in the Premier League - which was postponed on Friday until early April after five clubs announced the presence of coronavirus in their camps.

Arsenal duo Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Ivory Coast's Nicolas Pepe are understood to be self-isolating after their manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday evening.

"In one-two weeks, a few hundred Europe-based players will travel to Africa - some of them from high-risk zones and some of them perhaps infected by the virus without knowing," The Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet told BBC Sport Africa earlier this week.

"They could spread the virus in airports, airplanes and communities they will visit on national team duty - so the risk is very high that the 200-400 players that will travel (from Europe) will spread the infection," the Belgian ventured.

On Thursday, this month's World Cup qualifiers in South America were cancelled by football's world governing body Fifa, which this week postponed its Congress scheduled for Ethiopia in June.

The 2021 Nations Cup qualifiers aside, Caf also has significant competitions scheduled for April - including the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cameroon in April, which is when the African Champions League semi-finals are also set to take place.

A delegation from Caf's medical committee is set to visit Cameroon - which has reported two cases of coronavirus so far - on Saturday, with a view to assessing 'the preventive measures taken by the Local Organising Committee' ahead of the tournament for players based in their own leagues.