The President of the National Olympic Committee of Sierra Leone (NOC-SLE), Dr. Patrick Coker, has cautioned the various sporting associations that want to return to training to be very mindful that COVID-19 is still around and that they should do testing with NaCOVERC before they resume training.
Making his statement during a meeting with the different sporting associations recently at the NOC-SLE head office at Howe Street, Dr. Coker said he knows that everyone wants to go back to training, and one of the things they want to talk about is the return to the games because after the last webinar that he organised, he found out that, that was the most talked about.
“It’s not too easy to say we want to play, for example, in Morocco where it’s open that any association that wants to return to training must make sure that the athletes must face isolation for three days and also get tested before they can participate in any training session, which I believe will not be that easy for us here,” he said.
He said they appealed to the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa (ANOCA) to assist them with COVID-19 relief fund in order to reopen their offices and also for the various associations to return back to training, for which they sent money to them for the different associations.
He said associations that want to do the COVID-19 test must consult the NOC, who will arrange with NaCOVERC to do the test.
In his speech, NOC Secretary General Joseph Nyande said the COVID-19 situation is very critical, taking into consideration that some people can have the virus without showing any signs or symptoms, “and they might not know that they are infected”.