“Good hygiene and especially hand hygiene are on the agenda when the world’s largest football tournament kicks off this weekend,” says Norway Cup general Pål Trælvik.
“We are well prepared. We already have spare schools ready to isolate any sick children. We have good procedures for this and a good contingency plan, and we do everything we can to avoid illness,” says the Secretary General of NTB.
On Thursday, it was known that several football teams from Bergen were affected by a large outbreak of sickness at the football tournament Dana Cup in Denmark. Nearly 50 children and adolescents are placed in isolate, as a result of the outbreak.
Trælvik confirms that several football teams come directly from Dana Cup to Ekebergsletta and the Norway Cup, which starts Saturday. The organizers of the Norway Cup, however, do not take any special precautions in connection with the outbreak of illness.
“We have hygiene on the agenda, something we always do. Good hand hygiene is essential, as well as washing and cleaning of toilets, for which we have good procedures. We have been running this event since 1972 and have good routines.”
In 2009, the organizers of the football tournament introduced a ban on handshake before and after each match in connection with the swine flu epidemic. So far this time it is not relevant.
“We are not in a situation of that format now. Swine flu was a completely different situation,” says Trælvik.
Between 1,750 and 1,800 teams participate in this year’s edition of the Norway Cup. The 30,000 participants in the football tournament will live at 34 different schools in Oslo.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
