Brazilian ambassador for Spain assures Pau Gasol over Olympic Zika fears: “There's no danger”
Brazilian ambassador for Spain assures Pau Gasol over Olympic Zika fears: “There's no danger”
BRAZILIAN ambassador in Spain António Simões says the proliferation of the Zika virus should not cause any problems for competitors in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics due to take place this summer.
“Given that the sportspeople are not generally pregnant ladies, I don't see much of an issue,” Simões assures.
He was responding to Spanish basketball legend Pau Gasol, who had said he was 'considering not going' to the games because of Brazil being a high-risk country for the Zika virus, transmitted by the tropical Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
“Gasol is a great sportsman, but in terms of medical issues I have complete confidence in the doctors and in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said – that there's no danger,” insists Simões.
“And the Zika mosquito only lives about a month at the most – it's born in summer and then dies before winter, so they've already died out now.”
By the time the Olympics start, Brazil will be in mid-winter as nearly all of the country is below the equator.
Rio de Janeiro's winter climate is similar to that of Mediterranean Spain, albeit more humid since it is only 50 kilometres north of the Tropic of Capricorn.
