CAF initially declared that its competitions will go on as scheduled but the rapid spread of the corona virus has persuaded Africa’s football governing body to reconsider their decision.
Some high profile footballers, managers and club owners in Europe have been diagnosed with the deadly disease in the past few days which triggered the decision to suspend the qualifiers.
Quite a significant number of players who were supposed to participate in the qualifiers will be arriving from countries who have badly been hit by the disease and it would’ve been an unnecessary risk if the matches had been allowed to continue.
About 50 countries in Africa were supposed to host some 48 matches at the end of March.
CAF has deployed its officials to visit Cameroon who were scheduled to host the African nations championship (CHAN) to determine whether they have taken the necessary measures to stop the disease from spreading any further during the competition.
Some African countries have taken some precautionary measures by cancelling all football related activities while others have issued travel restrictions on their countries.
12 African countries have recorded cases of corona virus with Egypt being the most affected African country.